Justice League: The Second Chance
by Mr. Chaos
Summary: A battle with a reality warping foe leaves the League's adult minds trapped in the bodies of hormonal high school students! Wonder Woman's a cheerleader? Batman's in Drama club? Superman's in a love triangle? Oh, and they're also secret crime fighters after school. Homework, prom, battling Ultra-Humanite, getting their drivers licensees, acne... yup, this will be a bumpy ride.
1. Forever Young Part 1

"Flash, how are we coming with the evacuation?"

The scarlet speedster may have been miles away but thanks to the small communicator in Superman's ear it was as if he were right beside him. "Getting the last of them out right now. They will be out of blast radius in 2 minutes."

"Make it one, Flash," Batman said over the com.

"I thought we had 5 minutes before the bombs went off!" Flash complained.

"Anarky installed a bypass switch. Our window just got cut in half."

"Someone cut the wrong wire, didn't he?" Hawkgirl said with a slight chuckle.

"No," Batman said simply.

"It's ok to admit you made a mistake, Batman," Hawkgirl goaded. "You're only human, after all."

"Can we focus on the task at hand?" Green Lantern complained. "J'onn, have you managed to locate Anarky?"

Superman glanced to his right, where Wonder Woman and J'onn J'onzz, the Martian Manhunter, were floating beside him. The League had received an urgent call from Jump City an hour ago. Anarky, a deranged anti-establishment bomber and domestic terrorist, had highjacked several TV stations' signals to announce that he had moved his war against the government and society to Jump City. He'd boasted that he'd rigged every mailbox in Jump City with enough explosives to level several city blocks, claiming the post office was one of the arms of the militant government. Much of the League was on other assignments so it had fallen to the Original Seven to beam down and take care of the situation.

Anarky hadn't made things easy on them. Attempting to lift the mailboxes up, as John had suggested, would only trigger them to explode instantly. They were also on a relay circuit, meaning that disabling one would start a chain reaction that would blow them all up with seconds. It had taken Batman 10 minutes to find a workaround that was supposed to, in theory, allow him to use that relay against itself and shut down all the bombs just by disabling one. The problem was that Anarky, for how crazy he was, was also cunning and had obviously planned for someone to do just that.

J'onn's eyes glowed red as he sought out Anarky's mind. The evacuation had actually served a second purpose: not only were the innocent citizens moved out of blast range but now J'onn had less 'mental noise' to sift through.

"There," J'onn finally said, staring down at a mechanic's shop. "He is in there."

"Not for long," Wonder Woman said darkly, eyes narrowed.

"Diana," Superman said before she could dart off, "we need to be careful. Anarky has already proven to have plenty of redundancy plans. I doubt he thought he could just hide."

The Amazon princess glowered at that but nodded. "Fine... we go together."

Superman nodded, touching his ear. "Batman, Wonder Woman, J'onn and I are moving to capture Anarky."

"Understood," Batman said simply. "I nearly have the bombs defused. I'll join you once done."

"I'm coming too!" Hawkgirl said quickly. "I was supposed to meet friends for a drink tonight and Anarky ruined everything."

"Friends? What friends?" Flash asked. "I thought we were your friends!"

"You are... I mean friends other than you guys."

"Do I know these friends?" Flash asked. "Are they hot?"

"Flash..." John growled.

Superman shook his head. Even thought Hawkgirl and Green Lantern had managed to work together after her betrayal of the League John was still testy whenever he worked with her. That, in turn, had caused Batman to use them as an example of why one should avoid 'interoffice romance'... which in turn left Wonder Woman testy.

The Man of Steel rolled his eyes. _'I wonder if Captain America has to put up with this.'_

The door to the garage crumpled like tissue paper, Diana easily ripping it free and tossing it aside. Anarky, dressed in his golden mask and hood, whipped his hear towards the enraged Amazon, his hand already rising up to show her the detonator in his hands.

"Not another step, Wonder Woman!" Anakry shouted. "Not unless you want to turn Central City into Crater City!"

"Newsflash, Anarky," Flash said as he ran up to join his teammates; Green Lantern and Hawkgirl close behind. "We are in Jump City, not Central City."

"Oh know that, you pawn of the oppressive regime! But I knew the League would attempt to stop me from completing my mission against this corrupt government so I decided to plan ahead." Anarky took a step forward, wiggling the detonator. "While I did rig all the mailboxes to blow in Jump City I also planted quite a bit of C4 in Central City. This long range deadman switch is connected to my beautiful explosives... if you or anyone in the League attempt to either stop me or make a move towards Central City, I'll let go and blow it all to kingdom come!"

"J'onn?" Superman asked.

"He isn't lying," J'onn stated, eyes glowing.

"And don't think about trying to alter my mind!" Anarky said. "I studied up on you and I've created some powerful mental shields. You'll break through them... but not before I let go of this trigger."

"What do you want, Anarky?" Superman asked, doing his best not to let his eyes flick towards Batman, who was sneaking up on the domestic terrorist. He hoped to stall the madman long enough for Bruce to get the drop on him.

"What do I want?" Anarky said with a boisterous laugh. "I want to tear down the infrastructure that has led to corruption and distortion of mankind and let us live as we should... without rules and without laws! I want every man and woman to be able to do what they want, when they want, without a crooked cop or an on-the-take politician or some HERO claiming to be the moral master of the world standing over them, dictating-"

_"I like my town... with a little drop of poison... __nobody knows… they're lining up to go insane__..."_

The Justice League and Anarky all turned, watching in surprise as a long-legged man ambled up towards them, his head lowered and his hands in his pockets. He wore a black suit jacket over a half buttoned white shirt, both of which looked quite rumpled. A fedora covered his head, with only a few strands of blondish white hair visible under the brim that was helping to hide his face. He was a long, lanky figure with a strange little walk that seemed half a stroll and a half a dance. Most surprising was the fact that he was barefoot, not even wincing as he stepped on broken glass or pieces of metal.

_"I'm all alone,"_ the man sang, his voice rather cultured. _"I smoked my friends down to the filters. __But I feel much cleaner after it rains__..."_

Anarky lifted up his left hand, a grenade held tightly. He popped the pin, ready to toss it at the heroes, only to find that he was unable to move. He let out a little startled gasp, his muscles straining as he fought against the mysterious paralysis that had taken him.

_"__She left in the fall, that's her picture on the wall, she always had that little drop of poison__..."_ The man did a little skip before tilting his head, seemingly, for the first time, noticing he had company.

"Flash, get him out of here," Superman said, concerned that they might have missed the clearly befuddled man during the evacuation of the hospital.

"On it!" Flash said, zipping over to the man. "Ok, buddy, why don't we go sing somewhere else, alright?"

The man pulled one hand from his pocket and flicked his index finger slightly. Flash found himself lifted off the ground, suspending in midair before he was sent flying back towards the rest of the League, John just managing to catch him in time. The man looked up, a feral smile on his features as his eyes shone... one black and one white.

_"Did the devil... make the world... while God was sleeping?"_ The man threw out his arms and looked skyward, as if he expected an answer.

"Magic," Wonder Woman said sternly. "Some sort of sorcerer."

"Oh, so much more than that, Diana," the man said, his song clearly finished. "I'm disappointed... I thought you of all people would recognize me." He casually brought his hands together as if he were about to begin praying, only to flick them apart. The Leaguers let out yelps and cries of surprise as they were shoved aside by some invisible force, parting to allow the man to walk up to the now sweating Anarky. "And what do we have here? Anarky, was it?" The domestic terrorist struggled against the invisible hold, trembling as the man in the black suit moved to stand nose to nose with him. "What a small world... my name is Anarchy too."

"I don't know what you're planning, music man…" Hawkgirl said, lifting up her Nth metal mace. "But in case no one informed you, my little friend here is the worst thing for magic types like you!" She thrust her mace forward, striking the man on the shoulder.

Anarchy merely glanced at her, showing no signs he'd even been hit.

"Magic? My dear little birdie… your imagination is so… small." Extending his index and middle finger, Anarchy lifted Hawkgirl up and held her in pace, tugging on her limbs until she was struggling not to scream in pain. "Would anyone else care to make a guess? Martian? Batman? Please, do puzzle out the answer… I am willing to wait, even if I'm not sure any of you can survive my patience."

"Enough of this!" Diana shouted. "End your games… titan."

Anarchy slowly turned, a smile blossoming on his lips. "Oh… so you _do_ know who I am. I would have thought you'd guess sooner… the bare feet are a bit of a giveaway when it comes to us immortals."

Superman's brow crinkled at that and Diana muttered, "The immortals loathe footwear."

"Don't ask me why, we just do," Anarchy said, removing his hat and giving them all a sweeping bow. "Anarchy, the titan-god of chaos, at your service."

"Hey, if you are 'at our service', does that mean you have to do what we say… like letting us go?" Flash asked.

"No."

"Worth a shot," Flash muttered.

Anarchy smirked at that comment before turning his attention towards Anarky. "I will get to our business in a moment, Justice League. I wish to deal with this false being first." Hawkgirl moved to shout something but Anarchy merely waved his hand and she, along with the rest of the League, found themselves unable to open their mouths. "Well then… the man that took my name. The man that claims to be a champion of anarchy… but you don't know what anarchy is. You preach the destruction of order but you don't really want that, do you my little masked friend. What you want is to make the world that you don't understand into something you do. I know the feeling all too well myself but… but that isn't anarchy. Anarchy is to remove the rules and the plans and just… thrive on the impulses and your own sense of right and wrong." The titan smiled. "And my dear little name thief… I _gorge_ myself on impulses. Take right now, for instance… I really don't know what I am going to do with you. I could reduce you to the age of an infant and bless you with the powers of a god, raising you as my own." Anarchy's eyes narrowed and his lips curled back like that of a feral beast. "Or I could slit up your belly and strangle you with your intestines." He shrugged, his smile returning. "I honestly don't know what I'll do until I do it. Let's find out… shall we? It will be so much fun. For me, at the very least; and isn't the most important thing that I have fun?"

Superman bucked and thrashed against the invisible restraints that held him tight, trying to find some fracture point, some weakness that would allow him to escape. He tried to scream at Anarchy, demand the titan leave the supervillain alone, but whatever power flowed through the master of chaos it was stronger than even the man of steel. He could only watch, just like the rest of the team, as Lonnie Machin, the man known as Anarky, rose in the air… before disappearing. There was no puff of smoke or violent explosion… the masked man merely disappeared in the time frame of a blink.

"Hmmm… that was interesting," Anarchy said with a chuckle. He waved his hand idly and the League members pitched forward, freed from his hold. "Now then, let's move on to your business, shall we?"

"What did you do to him," Batman said darkly, his voice like sandpaper on gravel.

Anarchy waved Batman off, not noticing the way Flash flinched at the gesture. "Don't worry; I didn't kill the man so I didn't break your silly little rule."

"Where did you send him then?" J'onn asked gravely.

"Nowhere." Seeing them glare at him Anarchy smirked. "I mere that literally. I sent him nowhere. Quite impossible for me to send him anywhere, now."

"What does that mean?" Superman demanded.

"I erased Mr. Machin from existence." Anarchy walked over to a vending machine in the corner and began to look through his pockets. "Do one of you have a quarter? I'll pay you back."

"What do you mean, you erased him from existence?" Hawkgirl snapped.

"Exactly what it sounds like," Anarchy said with a snort before leaning towards the vending machine. "I demand a soda."

"Uh, that's a candy-" Flash began, only for the vending machine to spit out a Coke can. "…nevermind."

"You killed him," Green Lantern growled.

Anarchy rolled his eyes. "No, I wiped him out of existence. Outside of this garage, no one has any memory of the name thief. He never existed. Was never born, never grew up to become a psychopathic villain, never tried to blow up this town, never stole my name. You can't kill what never existed, simple as that. But please, if you don't believe me, have your Martian check. I'll just sit here… think up humorous ways to play with you." Anarchy promptly sat down… in thin air. He reached down and, tugging his hand, caused his legs to rise up as if he were sitting in a Laz-E-Boy.

"J'onn?" Superman asked, looking at his friend and teammate.

The Martian's eyes glowed red as he reached out across the vast globe, carefully sifting through the storm of thoughts and feelings, searching out for even one memory. Though his face didn't so much as twitch the others sensed that J'onn was becoming strained from exertion. Finally, J'onn slumped slightly, his eyes returning to normal as he did so. "He… he tells the truth. There is no memory of the one known as 'Anarky' in the entire world."

"A mental wipe," Green Lantern theorized. He held his fist to hand face. "Ring, replay log of events of the last 3 hours."

'Log engaged. Green Lantern John Stewart arrived at Watchtower. He found one known as Ted Kord who attempted to convince him to eat bubble bum and bratwurst pizza. For unknown reasons, he, along with the beings known as Clark Kent, Diana, Bruce Wayne, Wally West, Shayera Hol, and J'onn J'onzz arrived in Jump City and went into the building they currently stand in along with the titan-god Anarchy'

John's eyes went wide at that. "Ring… all records and past dealings with 'Anarky, aka Lonnie Machin'."

"Name not found. Do you refer to 'Anarchy, titan-god of chaos'?"

"No, he doesn't," Anarchy called out. Now he was holding out his hands like he was reading a book, even though none of the league could see a thing. "Oh, I see, this large fat orange feline hates the time on your human calendar known as 'Monday'." He chuckled before looking over at the League. "Please, feel free to attempt to plot against me. Diana can explain why you are destined to fail." Anarchy tilted back in his 'chair' and continued to read.

"Uh… team huddle?" Flash said awkwardly. His friends looked at him, glanced at Anarchy one more time… before moving off to the farthest corner of the garage. "Ok, so I know I'm not the brightest knife in the crayon box, but could someone tell me what we're fighting?"

"Diana?" Hawkgirl said simply, looking at the Amazon princess. "You called this guy a titan, right? Like the mythical beings?"

"Yes," Wonder Woman said, taking a deep breath. She kept shifting, it clear that she couldn't decide if she wanted to have her back to Anarchy or to be able to see him.

"Then we should be able to defeat him, right?" Superman pointed out. "My Greek myth is a bit rusty but I remember Zeus and the gods defeating the titans…"

Wonder Woman shook her head, managing a grim smile. "What you call a 'titan' and what Anarchy is are two different things. The beings Lord Zeus and his brothers and sisters defeated were mockeries of the true titans, using the name in an attempt to scare their enemies."

"We don't have time for a history lesson," Batman said gruffly.

Wonder Woman nodded. "Then to the point. A titan is a tenth dimensional being."

Batman, Hawkgirl, Superman and J'onn's eyes went wide at that.

"Ok, Bats is freaked out," Flash said. "And… so are the rest of you. Mind clueing me and John in?"

"I'm sensing that a 10th dimensional being is bad news," Green Lantern stated.

"We are three dimensional, right?" Superman said simply. "Length, width and depth. Scientists, however, believe there are 7 other dimensions. The fourth deals with time… accessing it is what allows for time travel."

"Like Booster Gold, right?" Flash asked.

"Correct," Batman said. "Superman dealt with a being of the 5th Dimension."

"Mister Mxyzptlk," Superman muttered, glancing over his shoulder as if he expected the little imp to appear and start making jokes.

Flash held up a hand. "Ok… so Myzmash or whatever his name is… he's a 5th Dimensional Being. So… Anarchy here is what… 5 times worse than him?"

"Flash," Batman said, his tone brokering no humor or jokes, "a 10th Dimensional Being would have complete control of the universe. Everything in existence… that ever was or ever would be… is his play thing. I'd compare us to an ant challenging Superman but that is giving us too much credit."

"…so we're in trouble, aren't we?" Green Lantern said.

"Oh my yes," Anarchy said. He'd left his 'chair' and was now lazily strolling around the garage, poking and prodding things. "I am so glad someone understands what I am. It gets rather annoying when I deal with you hero types and you fail to recognize my greatness." Anarchy's body instantly began to twist and shift, bones popping and cracking as he transformed. "I hope you aren't offended but… mmmm… you aren't the first heroes I've played with." After a few moments the titan-god had fully transformed into a large, blue, winged cat-like creature. He purred, stretching as he did so. "I took this form when I visited the Middle East and toyed with Mirage and her mortal enemy, the delightful street rat!" His limbs popped as he swelled up to nearly 20 feet tall, each arm and leg resembling a different beasts as his head took on the shape of a snaggletooth dragon with yellow and red eyes. "And this?" he said with a new voice. "I used this form when I visited a world full of colorful little horses. That reminds me, I must send them a post card." The strange beast collapsed onto himself until he reformed into his first form… except this one was wearing a red and black futuristic suit. "Mmm… not quite, Number One," he said with his dragon-voice before rolling his shoulders and returning to his original form he'd started with. "Now then… shall we begin?"

"Begin what, titan?" Wonder Woman asked, taking a step forward.

"If you think we are going to stand down just because you are powerful then you don't know the Justice League!" Green Lantern declared.

Anarchy looked at them in confusion. "I'm sorry, are we going to fight?"

"Uh… yeah," Flash said.

"Why?" Anarchy asked, puzzled.

"Because you want to torture us!" Hawkgirl complained. "…right?"

Anarchy opened his mouth, only for Superman to hold up his hand. "Wait… I've dealt with enough tricksters to know when one is playing with me." He narrowed his eyes and glared at Anarchy. It was the stare that had made gods and the mightiest of mortals tremble with dread. "Why are you here, Anarchy?"

The titan-god smiled. "To meet all of you, of course!" He held his arms out wide, a dopey grin on his face. "I admit it… I should be the last one to be a fan of your League. Fate is always smiling upon you…" His smile became vicious, "and I hate Fate with an all consuming passion. Fate goes against the grain and he cheats at cards." His smile grew silly once more. "But you seven… oh, it is so hard to hate you! You've faced odds greater than any in this world! You've faced death and destruction and you've come out of it the victors! You've looked at defeat, which was the size of galaxies, and somehow snatched the tiniest bit of victory from its jaws and raised it to become a juggernaut! You do it not out of glory or fame or wealth but because you want to! Yes, you tend to be a bit strict with your noble ways and your guiding codes but hey, even the master of chaos can appreciate that! Order makes chaos stand out… and your actions have made some of my littler works all the brighter. I have watched you and laughed and cheered and been delighted… and seeing you all right now, at the moment of your prime, when you are at your strongest and best… is so utterly depressing."

The seven heroes watched as Anarchy's shoulders slumped and his head dropped so that his chin was resting on his breast. His entire posture and demeanor screamed 'utter misery' and as he shuffled along he let out pitiful little sighs. His hat actually rolled off his head and went under a table.

"Ok, I'm missing something there," Flash said, the only one brave enough… or dumb enough… to speak out. "Why would seeing us at our best be a bad thing?"

"Because I've seen what comes after!" Anarchy whined. "I've seen how your lives turn out and it is HORRIBLE!"

J'onn, as stoic as ever, raised an eyebrow. "And what have you seen? Our defeat? Our deaths?"

"Worse," Anarchy moaned. "Marriage… and children… and old age and retirement. Ugh!" He looked at them all in disgust. "Two of you have a kid. Several of you get married. Hawkgirl's boobs begin to sag and Superman actually needs to wear glasses to read the paper. Batman hangs around in a cave with a teenage boy. A bit creepy, I must say, but after seeing how many pounds the Amazon puts on I don't blame him."

Hawkgirl snorted. "Pounds?" she said, despite herself.

Anarchy nodded. "Oh yes… the Amazon gets faaaaaaaaaatttt!" He walked over and, solemnly, placed a hand on Diana's shoulder. "Princess… your greatest enemies will be Ben and Jerry." He leapt back before Wonder Woman could say a word, landing on a tool cabinet and looking down at the League. "But never fear, my dear heroes… your Uncle Anarchy is here to prevent all that horrible boringness! What do you say? To hell with noble goals and your codes… join me and we can have a blast! Come on… what say you?"

Batman let fly one of his batarangs while Superman and J'onn fired blasts of energy from their eyes and Green Lantern shot a pulse of emerald energy at the titan-god. Anarchy flew off his perch, Flash zooming in and punching him several times before flipping over him and letting Diana and Hawkgirl rush in and give him twin haymakers that would have left Doomsday's teeth rattling.

"Oh no!" Anarchy wailed in pain. "Is this the end of the master of chaos? Defeated by the greatest heroes Earth has to offer?" He quickly leapt back to his feet and smiled. "Nope."

"We're boned," Flash muttered as Anarchy trapped them all again.

"Not at all! That team work just proves that you seven deserve what I am about to give you… the gift gods and kings across this universe have hunted for and sought to obtain… in vain."

"And that is?" Batman asked.

"A second chance," Anarchy said before throwing his hands out, the garage exploding out to reveal a swirling chaotic void where Jump City had been. The founders of the Justice League were caught in the temporal winds, fighting to try and right themselves and reach their friends. Anarchy remained in the center of the tempest, his hand reaching out and catching his hat. "But we must do it right! Can't let this be a repeat of what came before, can we? That would be almost as boring as your original destinies! No, we need something fresh… something new." He began to wave his hands about, the maelstrom of chaos magic swirling about his fingers. "The youngsters are what are hip and cool right now! No one wants to see adult heroes anymore… we want to see you struggling to grow up, fighting to become adults while still having a bit of the child you were in your hearts! Oh, to be young again… dealing with friends and dating woes and finals and football practice! Yes… yes, I believe that will be the ticket for some fun, alright!"

Superman's eyes went wide as he watched each of his teammates suddenly pop out of the storm. He grit his teeth, mustering all his strength to fight the winds and fly towards Anarchy, his face a mask of determination as he fought for his very existence.

"And Clark, can I call you Clark?" Anarchy moved towards him, his face inches from Superman's. "I want you to listen very carefully because I am deadly serious here… what I am going to tell you is incredibly important and if you don't pay attention billions will die." Anarchy leaned in close. "Clark… construction on I-75 is causing back-ups all the way to Mound Rd."

"…what?" the last son of Krypton said in confusion right before the world went dark and his body hit something soft.

"This traffic update has been brought McDonalds' new breakfast menu. Make sure to try out their new sausage wrap. I'm loving it."

Blinking his eyes, Superman, aka Clark Kent, realized that he was lying in his bed and the voice he was hearing was his clock radio. He groaned, his body sore and his eyes covered in sleep gunk. Reaching over, Clark turned off his alarm and sighed, rolling onto his back.

'Ok… that was a strange dream,' he thought to himself, mentally rolling his eyes. 'That is the last time I let Ted and Ralph pick out what pizza toppings the cafeteria will serve.' He stuck out his tongue in disgust, wondering how bad the rest of the league must feel without having a stomach made of iron.

"Clark!" his mouth called out. "Hurry up and get dressed!"

"Ok mom!" Clark called out, hating to get up but knowing that if he didn't his mother… would… "Wait… mom? What are you doing here?"

"Cooking breakfast, of course!" Martha Kent called out with a laugh. "What do you think I'd be doing?"

"But…" Clark's eyes went wide. "Wait… what…" He lowered his voice and said, soft enough for only him to hear, "My name is Clark Kent."

It was his voice… except he hadn't sounded like that in _years._

"Kara!" a voice called out in annoyance. Clark brow furrowed and he got out of bed, looking about the room he found himself in. He was surprised that, for the most part, it resembled his bedroom back in Smallville. There were some changes, of course; the laptop was new, the posters were of bands that had only recently begun to put out records, and the calendar had the correct year on it… but everything else was just like it had been when he'd been growing up in Smallville. "Clark!"

Blinking, Clark watched as, to his shock, a 10 year old boy with messy black hair stomped into his room, a petulant scowl on his face. Clark vaguely recalled the baby pictures his mother loved bringing out whenever he brought friends over (including Lois… who had delighted in tormenting him after seeing 'baby Clarkie's first bath') and realized that the boy was almost a spitting image of himself when he'd been 10.

'Connor.' The name appeared in his head without warning.

"Tell Kara to hurry up! I want to brush my teeth!"

"I'm done already, you tattletale!" Kara declared with a huff. Clark's eyes went wide as he stared at his cousin; this Kara was, at best, 13 years old! "Seriously, stop bothering Clark, you little dork! Our big brother is too busy dreaming about Lois to list to you complain!" Connor glared at Kara, giving her the stink eye… before _superspeeding _into the bathroom. "You ok, Clark?" Kara asked right before she did a superspeed spin to dry her hair. Without missing a beat, she asked, "You aren't trying to get out of the first day of school, right? Because you know mom and dad won't fall for it."

Clark blinked and quickly forced a smile on his face. "N-no Kara, not at all."

"Good."

"Kids! Breakfast!"

"Coming mom!" Kara called before superspeeding downstairs.

Gripping his head in his hands, Clark took several calming breaths. "Ok… ok… calm down," he muttered to himself. He dimly realized that the last time he'd had a panic attack… he'd been roughly the same age he was now, after learning the truth about who he was. That thought had Clark bolting from his bed and slamming his door shut so he could look at the full length mirror hanging off the back of it. He tilted his hair, staring at the reflecting of the teen that looked back at him… so much a stranger but also so much like himself.

His short hair was now shaggy and he was suffering from a bad case of bedhead. His once broad shoulders and muscular chest had been much reduced; there was still muscle there but not nearly as much as he once had. A boyish face looked back at him in terror. He was even a foot SHORTER.

"Clark, hurry up if you want some pancakes!" his mother called out.

"C-coming mom," Clark croaked out weakly. "Oh boy."

~JL~JL~JL~

"By Hera," Diana mumbled, rubbing her face against her pillow. "I swear, Flash, I will send you to Tartarus and back for making me eat that pizza." Diana knew she had no one but herself to blame for that horrid meal. Blue Beetle and Elongating Man had decided to have a 'Strange Topping Pizza Contest' in the Watchtower cafeteria the day before. She had planned to avoid the madness but Flash had begun ribbing her, pointing out that Hawkgirl was brave enough to sample some of their insane creations. Her own stubborn pride had seen Diana pulling up a chair and challenging her friend with a smirk.

Well, Diana wasn't smirking now. Her limbs ached and her mouth felt like she'd gargled with desert sand. Idly she rolled over, grabbing the stuffed bear she'd been cuddling with and used him to shield her eyes from the rays of sunlight that were peaking through her bedroom window.

It took 10 seconds for those facts to filter through her sleep-addled brain.

"What in the world?!" Diana exclaimed, jerking up violently, the fuzzy bear flying off her face and landing next to her vanity. "Oh… sorry Ajax!" Diana exclaimed before catching herself. "Ajax?" She tossed the overly pink covers from her bed and stood up, a determined look on her face. Something had happened… Anarchy had done something to her and she wasn't going to lie around and wait for someone else to figure it out. Her face was set in a grim frown as she took a step forward…

…and promptly fell on her face.

"Ow," Diana mumbled, blowing a strand of hair from her eyes. Pushing herself up she attempted another step and found that she could at least manage that without acting like a total clutz. However, the concern that she had been altered in some way was now chilling her blood and Diana knew she had to get to the bottom of it. The fact that the word 'clutz' was in her vocabulary was proof that something was wrong. She glanced at the vanity in annoyance but finally relented, walking over to it and sitting down.

The reflection of a powerful, mature Amazon princess did not appear before her. Instead, like one of Mirror Master's twisted creations, an altered version of herself looked back at her. Her long hair remained but was such a tangled mess she wondered if even Aphrodite would be able to make it appear beautiful. There was youth to her features though not enough that one could consider her a child. She looked down, frowning as she gazed at the pink little camisole she was wearing, before poking at her bare arm, annoyed at how utterly soft her muscles-

Diana gulped, fear flooding through her as she reached for one of her brushes… and found that she couldn't even bend it, let alone break it. She let the brush fall limp from her hands as she stared at her bare wrists.

'I… I don't have my powers,' she realized. That's why she'd stumbled out of bed; she was so use to having strength and flight that she'd trained her body how to move about with them. After that first battle with the White Martians she'd found that, at first, she had a habit of floating as she walked and thus she'd trained her body to step down just a bit harder to make sure that didn't happen. Now though… she was powerless. No strength, no flight.

Diana looked at her reflection again, horrified as she saw fat tears gathering in the corners of her eyes. She reached up and touched her check, wondering why she would be crying… she didn't cry, she was an Amazon!

"But…" she said, her voice coming out as a pitiful whine, "I don't feel like one… no!" Her voice instantly snapped back to firm and in control. "No… I don't know what sort of bewitchment has placed me in this body or has caused me to have these… strange emotional outbursts…" she sniffed against but forced herself to calm down. 'Hormones' her mind quietly whispered to her, 'Teenagers have raging hormones… emotions flip on a dime…' She scowled at that and stood up. "I will find the rest of the League and we will then find Anarchy and we will force him to return us to normal!" Giving her reflection a curt nod, Diana stomped over to her closet and threw it open….

…and stared at the cheerleading uniform that was hanging there, a happily little sticky note stuck to it which read 'Remember to wear me today! LOL!'

"Hera grant me strength…" Diana muttered as she grabbed the outfit.

~JL~JL~JL~

"Are you ok, Master Bruce?"

"I'm-" Bruce stopped, shutting his eyes for a moment as he tried his hardest not to focus on the sound of his voice. "I'm fine," he said again.

"Good. Now then, I have prepared your lunch for the day," Alfred held up his hand and smiled, "I know, I know, young men your age do not 'brown bag it' but I refuse to let you eat that swill they call 'food' at that high school. I think you will prefer this much more."

"Thank you, Alfred," Bruce said, stabbing a bit of pancake with his fork and popping the piece in his mouth. Alfred, clearly surprised that Bruce hadn't fought him on the bagged lunch, smiled and returned to the kitchen. 'Ok, I need to remember to fight a bit more with Alfred on some of the choices he's made for me,' Bruce thought to himself. 'That is what… teenagers do.'

He'd known the moment he'd woken up that Anarchy had altered him. Bruce Wayne had spent years transforming his body into the perfect weapon to fight crime. This meant that he not only had strength and speed and motor memory to pull off dozens of combat styles, but that he also understood how his body moved and behaved. One needed to comprehend how their every motion felt if they wished to do what he did; a slight twinge or tightness in a shoulder or a hip could be the difference between life and death. Many times he had startled Alfred by being able to predict exactly what he had broken or damaged in his body. To some it was magic but to him it was a simple understand of himself and how his body worked.

So when he'd opened his eyes and stared up at the ceiling…. he'd known. Even though he was in the bedroom he'd always slept in since he was a child and there was no sign anything had changed, he knew was not himself. His arms and legs felt gangly and his first few moments had been awkward. Bruce, however, was a quick study and after a few katas he'd quickly figured out how to get his teenage body to work.

Yes, Bruce had figured out quickly that, somehow, he'd ended up 15 again. Anarchy was the most likely culprit, especially after his 'second chance' comment and Bruce was already mentally figuring out how he would contact the rest of the league. Clark would be the easiest and his best bet. John next, though there would be little he could do without his Power Ring. Wally may or may not have his powers… it all depended if he was their age or younger. Diana would be harder, as he would have to charter a flight to her island and find a way on without getting killed by her sisters. Shayera and J'onn were off the table, as the former was still on her home planet and the later was either on Mars or trapped by the White Martians.

Bruce shifted, the dress shirt he was wearing feeling like a sheet on his slender frame. He'd forgotten how thin he was at this age and mentally made a second note to get Alfred to set up a home gym. The memories of all his moves were still there but without the body to actually perform them they were useless. It wouldn't be as difficult as the first time but Bruce knew that he would require quite a bit of training-

"Bruce?"

The young man's eyes snapped up towards the doorway and all his plans and schemes instantly flew out the window. As he stared at the woman who'd rolled into the dining room in her wheelchair he knew in that instant that everything he had assumed about himself and this world was dead wrong. He hadn't been thrown back in time and he wasn't being forced to relive his life over.

"M…mom?" Bruce whispered.

~JL~JL~JL~

Author's Note: Yes yes, I know... the last thing I should be doing is starting another story. Blame my muse. This idea came to me after reading way too many X-Men Evolution fan fics… especially those that are crossovers with Smallville. I was struck with the thought, right as I was getting into bed, that it would be really fun to take the Founding Members of the Justice League and stick them in a world where they all go to high school together. But to make it different from your standard 'AU characters are high schooler' fics… they would remember their past lives and would struggle to try and adjust to the new histories and lives they now have. Also, just like Evolution, our characters will have their powers and will, soon, form the Justice League… though with some twists and such thrown in. Don't worry though, this won't be a simple swap and play with Evolution… that show merely inspired the idea of deaging the characters.

This world Anarchy has created is going to be a fun one. Already we see that Kara and Connor exist as Clark's sister and brother, Diana is in man's world and is, apparently, a cheerleader, and Martha Wayne is alive. As we go on and all of the characters begin to find each other at the high school (and yes, all of them live in the same town… again, another X-Men Evolution homage) they will try and piece together their histories as well as deal with their new bodies… because as we've gotten hints of, being a teenager means that they now have hormones… which means strange emotional reactions and desires.

Anarchy is an original character. His voice actor would be Matt Smith, who I think would best provide the cultured, silly, but also very dangerous titan-god of chaos. The barefoot thing comes from the New52 Wonder Woman Series... all the gods go barefoot and Diana even, at one point she she goes into god mode, sheds her shoes. I like the visual of Anarchy being this strange Baron Sambebi, John Constantine, Tom Watt hybrid with bare feet and rumbled clothing and a killer hat

Next Up: Clark, Diana and Bruce head to Happy Harbor High and begin to try and find the others and sort through the insanity of their new lives. Lois is Clark's best friend? Bruce hangs out with Lex Luthor? Diana's a CHEERLEADER and part of the 'mean clique'? Oh boy.


	2. Forever Young Part 2

Shayera Hol was not have a good morning.

She'd awoken with a snarl, her blood boiling as Tom Watt's 'Little Drops of Poison' played on the radio beside her bed. Said radio might have avoided being turning into a piece of scrap had it not been for the fact that its song choice was the same one Anarchy had been singing before he strolled up and manhandled the entire League. The lanky titan-god had treated her like a nobody and hurt her friends, so when her eyes had snapped open she was ready to dish out some pain upon him. The poor radio died for Anarchy's sins and Shayera leapt up, ready to do battle.

That's when things got weird.

The bedroom she'd found herself in could have easily been her own, as it had many of the same design choices and styles that Shayera tended to gravitate too. Dark wood paneling, a large bed with twisted covers, clothing thrown about all over the place, dirty shirts mixing with clean ones, drawers half open with socks and panties crammed into them. Wally always made fun of her for her sleeping habits, claiming she didn't have a bed but a giant nest.

Whenever he did that she made a quiet little plot to hide one of his beloved action figures.

But there had been other things in the room that just didn't fit. The posters on the wall of bands and movie stars she barely remembered. A guitar sitting off in the corner when she knew she didn't play. Even the view was wrong; rather than the high mountains that normally greeted her when she woke up she found herself staring out at a picture of suburbia, with men hurrying off to work in their suits and school kids running to bus stops with their backpacks.

Dread had filled her veins as she remembered Anarchy little comments about 'second chances' and teenagers. She'd forced herself to take a calming breath and looked down… at her lean arms, scrawny legs, flat chest… no WINGS…

If someone asked her later on about that discovery, she planned to omit the part about screaming.

Her… overly emotional response (she had not broken down screaming in horror, rocking back and forth while hugging her pillow)… had brought out the next little surprise of the morning: her 'mother'.

'_Well, not my real mother,'_ Shayera thought to herself as she pulled the hood of her light yellow sweatshirt up over her head and trudged towards Happy Harbor High. People were giving her a wide berth and she was glad for that, as she was in no mood to socialize with the moody, hyperactive, giggly and/or lusty teenagers that were swirling about her. The Doc Martins she wore were heavier than her normal boots but at least they would provide her with some weight when she kicked someone… and she knew she would be kicking someone if they kept looking at her like they were. A black denim backpack, given to her by 'Mother' was slung over her shoulders and her hands were stuffed into the pockets of her baggy cargo pants. Quite honestly, if someone didn't look too carefully she could have passed as a boy.

"Oh, sorry!" a teen said as he bumped into her shoulder. Shayera's lips curled back, several choice words on the tip of her tongue, only for them to die away as she stared at the red head that had hit her. "Shayera?"

"Wally?" Shayera said, an actual smile blossoming on her face as she looked at the tall teen in his red and gold graphic teen and skinny jeans. She felt something fluctuate within her and she leapt forward and hugged the man that she saw as her little brother. "Wally!"

Wally laughed as he lifted Shayera up and spun her about. "Oh thank God! I thought I was the only one stuck in 'Save by the Bell'!" Shayera laughed at that, hugging Wally just as tightly, her heart pounding in her chest as she realized that, at the very least, she wouldn't have to be dealing with this insanity on her own. The two of the giggled in delight, stumbling a bit as Wally tried to keep himself upright as he held Shayera up.

"What is with them?"

"Did I actually hear Shayera laugh?"

"Must be the end of the world."

"Seriously, did I just see what I think I saw?"

"Is that West hugging Little Miss Brood?"

"Do you think they are dating?"

"Lucky girl, wish Wally would hug me like that."

Wally glanced over Shayera's shoulder at a group of girls that were gossiping about their antics. It was rather easy for him to do so as he was actually rather tall. While Shayera had shrunk Wally had remained almost as tall as he had been as an adult; it was only the lack of muscle definition that had him looking more scrawny than superheroy.

'_Superheroy?'_ Shayera thought. _'Clearly standard vocabulary and Shayera are unmixy… what the hell?!'_

Wally tilted his head in confusion. "Ok, let me guess… weird thoughts racing through your head?" When Shayera merely stared at him he shrugged and tapped his forehead. "Got the same thing happening, little bird." Shayera glared at him and Wally smiled weakly. "Like that one. Anyway, I think we should step off to the side. We are getting some odd looks from our classmates."

"Oh god," Shayera mumbled, pressing the heel of her palm against her forehead. "We have classmates."

"Yeah, and a boatload of other problems," Wally muttered. Shayera nodded, following after her friend, not realizing that she'd subconsciously reached out and grabbed his hand, which only led to more whispering from those that had spotted them. The two of them quickly made their way over to a grove of trees just a few yards away from the main road, which served as a tiny little park area. There was a picnic table there and Wally quickly sat down, Shayera moving to sit opposite him and pushing some abandoned paper cups away. Wally took off the messenger-style bag that had been slung over his shoulder and plopped it on the ground before stretching his long, thin arms high up in a bone-cracking stretch. "So… rough morning?"

"I'm stuck in a barely pubescent body, without my wings, and I have a Thanagarian Servant Droid posing as my mother. 'Rough' doesn't begin to cover it, Flash."

Wally grimaced. "Yeah, I didn't want to mention it… but your wings-"

"Long story," Shayera muttered.

"Make it short."

"Removed for my mission and replaced by a Nth Metal flight harness."

Wally's face screwed up in confusion. "Ok, make it just a touch longer…"

Shayera groaned. "According to my… 'mother'-" She did little air quotes.

"The robot thing you mentioned, right?"

"Correct. To anyone other than me, 'she' looks like… well, how I am supposed to look…"

"Old," Wally said before his eyes went wide. "Not… not that I'm saying you were old! You were still really hot for someone so mature-I mean aged- I mean you would totally be a milf if you had a kid. Not in a bad way… I would have dated you if you showed any interest in me… did I say that out loud?" Wally slammed his forehead on the table. "Never mind, you were saying?"

Shayera nodded, resisting every impulse to huff like the moody teenager she was. "My 'mother' informed me that in this reality I was selected for the Thanagar Deep Cover Division. Think of it like your CIA. Agents infiltrate worlds and report back their findings to determine if a species has anything to offer Thanagar. In order to blend in with the people of Earth, I have adopted the guise of a high school student… and had my wings surgically removed." She flexed her shoulders slightly, finding it rather disturbing that she didn't have the normal weight of her feathered appendages on her back.

"So… in this reality… you're a traitor again?" Wally said with utter sadness and hurt.

"NO!" Shayera exclaimed, grabbing his hands and clasping them in hers. "I swear to you… I am not going to betray Earth! I will never betray any of you… Wally please believe me! I'd… I'd rather have my wings ripped out one feather at a time then ever betray you!" Tears rolled down her cheeks and she cursed in annoyance. "Stupid… I keep feeling like crying or screaming or giggling…"

"That because of the hormones, dumb-dumb! Make you feel things more strongly, emotional whiplashes, growth spurts and such…"

Wally and Shayera jerked up as they saw Anarchy floating just above them. Shayera growled, wishing that 'mother' had let her bring her mace. The droid had refused, stating it would blow her cover. The best Shayera could get was her backpack, which in fact held the Nth Metal Harness she'd been given as a replacement for the mutilation of her wings.

Anarchy paused, tilting his head in confusion as he looked down at the two. "Wait… you the aren't the cavemen I was suppose to torment… damn it." He reached into his hat and pulled out a scheduler, flipping through it. "I am in the wrong timeline and dimension! Me damn it, I need to get a secretary." He vanished the scheduler and waved his hands frantically. "My apologizes, I came here way too soon, pretend I never popped up." And with that he simply disappeared.

"…crap," Wally muttered in annoyance.

"I swear I am going to ring that titan's neck!" Shayera screeched, stomping her foot in anger. Wally watched her rant and rave, a slight smile on his face as he enjoyed Shayera's tantrum, especially the way it made her bounce about. Yes, her pants were a bit too baggy to let him stare at her bootie but still, the way she was wiggling-

"Wally… are you checking me out?" Shayera said, her tone dangerous as she froze mid-stomp.

"…hormones," Wally muttered weakly. Off in the distance he heard a sound he'd hadn't heard in years: the warning bell. "Oops, school is starting, have to go Shayera!" And with that Wally superspeeded away.

"I… you… I…. AAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" Shayera screamed.

~JL~JL~JL~

'**Are you sure you do not require assistance?'**

'_I'm sure,'_ John mentally said.

'**It appears that you need assistance.'**

'_I have this.'_ John shifted in his seat, wondering how he'd ever forgotten how uncomfortable the chairs in school were. There was just no way to sit in them without hurting. If he sat up straight the hard plastic ground into his shoulder blades. Slouching, at first, was good, but continually doing so made him stiff and sore. Worse, the chairs were cold and made certain parts of his backside itch like crazy. John shifted again, ignoring the looks he was getting from his classmates. They were all strangers to him, even if he did recognize all of them thanks to the flashes of memories his brain was receiving, connecting names with faces. He honestly didn't know if that was better or worse than knowing everyone. On one hand, having familiar faces would be nice, especially since enough of the people around him knew his name and acted like they had a shared history. On the other hand though, John didn't know how he'd handle it if he had to look at a teenaged Mari or John Henry Irons.

It was bad enough he'd had to look at himself as a teenager that morning. A normal, average teenager. Not that there was anything wrong with being average… but John had years of military training that had given him a strong, rock-hard body that he took great pride in. He wasn't vain but… he knew he looked good and he liked the fact that he had developed his body to its peak. It also helped keep him sane; when a kid from Detroit fought gods and demons sometimes the only thing he could do to keep his mind on the right track was to pump iron and hit the bag.

All of that was gone now, leaving him looking like a young man who had a couple of weights in his bedroom and nothing else. Worse, he was once more stuck with the bane of his existence: glasses.

John reached up and pushed the offending specs back up the bridge of his nose. When he'd gone into the military one of the first things he'd done was get laser eye surgery. No one wanted a marine that couldn't see a target two feet in front of his face. In this new body, however, his eyes were once more horrible, meaning he had to wear the dorky glasses. It didn't matter if on anyone else he would have said they looked cool and stylish, or if the world thought they looked fine on him; when John wore them he felt like Urkel.

"And if you carry the 3…" Mr. Rosenberg said dryly, his marker running along the white board as he showed the class how to work out the algebra problem. John dimly tried to remember if any of his other classes back when he'd been in school had started the first day with a long boring lecture. If they had he'd obviously blocked the painful memory. Of course, the entire day had been a pain as John was either dealing with lessons he knew he should remember but didn't, meaning he felt like a fool… or dealing with lessons he remembered all too well and thus was bored out of his mind.

'**Lantern Stewart, you placed a 7 in the equation when it should be a 3. Are you sure you do not require assistance?'**

John glared at his lantern ring in utter annoyance. He'd been thrilled when he'd realized that even though he was a teenager he still had his power ring. The ring had provided him with the basic story: John had moved to Happy Harbor 3 years earlier, moving in with his Uncle Robert and his two cousins Sharon and Virgil. According to the ring, much of John's time in Happy Harbor was normal and it wasn't until that past summer, when things had gotten strange. John had been dragged from his bed to the woods and to the dying Lantern Nella Nivek, partner to first Abin Sur and later Hal Jordan. Just as Sur had to Jordan, Nella had selected John as his replacement and given him the ring before passing.

'**It appears you are daydreaming. School is for focus, young man.'**

John grit his teeth. Unlike Hal, who had been, in this reality, 17 when he got the ring, John was only 15 and thus considered 'underage'. As such, he wasn't allowed to go to Oa for basic training… and the ring was stuck in 'parental mode'. That meant, to John at least, it was nagging on him like it was his mom.

"Remember to do all the odd numbered problems on page ten!" Mr. Rosenberg called out as the bell rang, signaling the end of class. John tossed his books in his backpack and hurried out the door, anxious to grab lunch… and hopefully find his friends. He'd been trying to keep an eye out for the rest of the League but other than spotting a flash of red hair that John assumed belonged to Wally, he'd so far turned up with nothing. Lunch, however, offered him a better chance to move about and hopefully find Diana or J'onn or Wally-

"That's an interesting class ring you have on."

John whipped around, his fist held out as he prepared himself for an attack.

"Don't do that," Bruce said, leaning against a wall with a locker on his right, dressed in a black dress shirt and slacks. John idly wondered how Bruce had managed to find the one part of Happy Harbor High that had shadows. "Just keep walking and act natural."

"Nothing about this is natural," John grumbled, ignoring a couple of girls that were giggling at his 'antics' and trudging towards the cafeteria, Bruce just a step behind him. "I mean, what is natural for us? These aren't even our bodies."

"This isn't the first time we've found ourselves altered," Bruce stated quietly. "Remember Modred's little spell."

"I try not to," John stated. "But this is a bit different, you have to admit."

"True," Bruce admitted. "But we aren't going to help the situation if you act out of character. So think like a teenager and not like a lantern."

"I am a lantern," John argued quietly. "Have the ring and everything." He held up his hand as he got in line. "Are you brown bagging it?" he asked, noticing the paper sack in Bruce's hand.

"Yes," he grumbled, sounding very much like a teen. "Alfred's idea."

"…I'll trade you." Bruce shot him a look and John shrugged. "I thought that's what kids did."

"We are 15, John, not 5. We don't get recess, we don't get naptime, and there aren't any cookies and milk after story hour."

"You oddly know a lot off the top of your head about what kindergarten is like," John stated, grabbing a tray and grinning as he saw they were serving pizza for lunch. "Ok, this day just got a bit better."

Bruce looked off to the side, shaking his head when the lunch lady tried to offer him a slice. "Try and focus. I know it is hard but you have to act like a teenager… but don't think like one."

"There is a difference?" John asked as he paid for his food with the money his uncle had left on the table. John didn't remember having an 'Uncle Robert' but apparently in this reality he did… and the man was nice enough to leave his nephew plenty of money for lunch. He hadn't gotten to meet him, as Uncle Robert had left a note saying he had to get Sharon and Virgil to school.

"Of course," Bruce stated as John began to try and find a table to sit at. "If you begin acting like an adult, people will notice that something is off about you."

"Something is off about me," John reminded him once more. "And would that be such a bad thing?"

"If Robin came up to you claiming he was really a 35 year old man, what would you think?" 

"I'd think he needed to get checked into Arkham for a nice 2 week stay." Bruce glared at John and the lantern managed a weak smile. "Ok, sorry, but true. And ya, I get your point; if we begin acting out of character then people will think we are nuts and that will only cause us problems. Just because we are new to this reality doesn't mean we don't have a history here."

"Exactly," Bruce said. "We have to learn about that history though and figure out how to behave so that we seamlessly integrate ourselves."

Spotting an empty table at the far end of the cafeteria, John hurried over to claim it before anyone else did. Bruce followed after him, sitting down and unpacking the sandwich, bottle of water, and thermos of soup Alfred had packed him. "Ok, so I get acting like a kid… but what do you mean, don't think like one?"

"He means that we have hormones raging through our bodies now and impulses and ideas that are not normal for an adult mind," Clark said, setting a tray down as he sat down next to them. John and Bruce stared a look, a bit surprised to see Clark wearing his normal red button-up shirt and blue jeans… but NOT his glasses. "Yeah… I didn't begin wearing those until I came to Metropolis," Clark said, sensing what they were staring at. John and Bruce continued to stare, far to use to Superman, when he was Clark Kent, looking like a total dweeb. This Clark looked like he could be prom king. Clark had told them once over drinks that in high school he'd been somewhat popular and not at all like the geeky, bumbling man he pretended to be at the Planet, but there was a difference between hearing that and seeing it. "It's weird to be walking around without them but even if I could get my hands on a pair…"

"It would draw to many questions," John said, finishing the statement. Taking a bite of his lunch, he looked about the cafeteria for a moment. "So, any sign of the others?"

"None," Clark said. "And most of the faces I've seen are new ones. I'm trying to listen in for the others but since all our voices are slightly different…" He looked over at Bruce's thermos of soup and smirked. "Here." Focusing, a thin beam of red light shot out and headed the liquid from mildly warm to fresh-off-the-stove hot.

"Hmmm," Bruce muttered. "Most?"

Clark blushed at that. "Well…"

"Smallville!"

The three young men whipped their heads, watching as a trio of ladies, a pretty blonde, a stunning redhead and a raven-haired beauty, hurried over to them. To John's amusement the raven and the red each placed a hand on Clark's shoulder and gave it a squeeze, while the blonde merely stood by, rolling her eyes at their antics. Clark, embarrassed and uneasy by the attention, shifted about in his chair.

"How did you manage to get here so fast?" the blonde asked. "We got out of class at the same time and you already have food? Jeez, did you fly or something?"

Bruce shot Clark a dirty look.

"It's pizza day," he said quietly.

"Smallville, aren't you going to introduce us to the new friends you ditched us three for?" the raven-haired girl ask.

Clark quickly nodded. "Uh, yeah, right. Guys, this is Lois Lane, Lana Lang, and Chloe Sullivan. Girls, this is John Stewart and Bruce Wayne."

Lana tilted her head in confusion. "Odd little group you have going here but… ok, I'm fine with it. We'll grab lunch and meet you over here." She leaned down and gave Clark a kiss on the cheek. "See you in a moment."

"That we will, Smallville," Lois said, doing the same.

"Idiots," Chloe muttered, grabbing the other two and dragging them away.

"…damn!" John finally exclaimed once the girls were out of earshot.

Clark groaned. "Please don't. This is hard enough as it is. And thank god Wally didn't hear that because you know he'd have said something dirty."

"Wally? Noooo," John teased.

"Lois and Lana," Bruce said. "Chloe?"

"Old friend. We drifted apart after her dad got a new job in California during Freshman year. I guess in this reality that never happened. I'm just glad she's dating the Junior Varsity Quarterback and not interested in me. This is painful enough as it is."

"Painful?" John asked, nibbling on his crust.

Clark nodded. "Apparently I'm 'Archie' to their 'Betty and Veronica'." John and Bruce merely stared at him. "Oh, come on! One of you had to get that reference!"

"I did, I just didn't find it funny," John said simply.

Clark opened his mouth to retort, only to quickly shut it when he spotted Chloe, Lana and Lois returning with their lunches. The three girls settled down around the table and to John's amusement Lois and Lana purposely sat themselves on either side of Clark, even though the table sat 10 easily and there was no need to squish in. Chloe and John shared a look, silent laughter shaking their frames at the way the two girls were practically worming their way onto Clark's lap. For his part, Clark was wondering what the hell he should do. While he had cared for Lana greatly and Lois and him were really close… neither of them had ever been this forward with him. It was awkward and weird and nice and Lana's hand was running up his leg and he really should stop her from doing that-

"Well, well, well… see you are still slumming it, Clark."

Lana and Lois froze. John raised an eyebrow in confusion. Chloe scowled and Bruce remained as stone-faced as ever. Clark slowly turned…

"Aresia," he said quietly, staring at the teenage version of the Amazon warrior that had tried to kill every man on Earth. Even though she was now much younger and wearing, of all things, a white and red cheerleader's uniform, Clark could tell just from the tone of her voice who she was. He remembered the snarly, cocky attitude all too well. There were few people that had made him feel worse than Aresia had with her super virus.

"Of course, I suppose that it is rather noble of you to show the lessers a bit of kindness by gracing them with your presence. Still, don't you get tired of hanging out with little girls… when you could have a real woman?" Aresia leaned over and Clark fought the urge to shudder as she lightly trailed her fingers along the back of his neck.

"Well, if he finds a real woman we'll let you know," Lana stated.

"And what is that suppose to mean, Lang?" Aresia snapped.

"It means that mommy paid for you to have so much work that you could hardly be called 'real'," Lois shot.

"Is this common?" John whispered to Chloe.

"Uh… yeah," Chloe said, staring at him. "A daily occurrence all last year. Where the hell were you?"

"I… normally eat lunch outside."

'**That was a lie, Lantern Stewart. When we lie we only hurt ourselves. May I suggest honesty being the best policy?'**

"Shut up ring," John muttered.

"Did you say something?" Chloe asked.

"Me? No."

Bruce quietly at his lunch, watching as John tried to backpedal, Chloe prodded, and Clark found himself stuck in a maelstrom of three warring females. He blamed his teenage body for the smile that graced his lips.

Clark, for his part, looked towards the ceiling… and scowled when he saw the mural painted up there that included a smirking Anarchy waving at him. He lowered his head, ready to intervene as Lois looked ready to begin screaming, when a familiar voice called out to them.

"Aresia… I think that's enough."

"Diana?" John whispered in surprise, staring at the Amazon princess… in her red and white cheerleader uniform, a cute pink backpack slung over her shoulder and a lunch tray grasped in her hand. Beside him he could hear Bruce choking as a spoonful of soup went down the wrong pipe.

"Oh look, the princess is here," Lana said sarcastically. "And the joys continue."

Diana seemed taken-aback by Lana's attitude. "I do not know what I did-"

"We're trying to enjoy our lunch here, ok?" Lois snapped. "Can we postpone you belittling and mocking us for this afternoon, princess? That'd be great."

"Belittling?" Diana said in surprise.

Aresia rolled her eyes. "Don't think we'll be forgetting about you little girls." She sneered a bit. "I have a lot more we need to… discuss." Aresia's mood instantly turned to sultry as she glanced at Clark. "Buh-bye, baby." Threading her arm through Diana's, Aresia began to drag the Amazon princess away, not noticing that Diana was silently mouthing 'Help me' to her friends as Aresia instantly began to giggle and begin talking about some TV show she'd seen the night before.

"Well… that wasn't awkward," John deadpanned.

Chloe rolled her eyes. "Just Diana and Aresia being their normal charming selves. Seriously, I don't get why both of them act like that… you aren't going to be dating either of them, Clark, despite what their little clique things."

Clark choked and sputtered at that. "Date Diana?" Bruce, off to Clark's right, paused for only a moment, eyes narrowed, before he continued eating.

"That's what the princess and her amazons think," Lana grumbled. "Little bitch, I'd like to…" She trailed off, munching on her pizza while she plotted all the horrible things she'd like to do to the cheerleaders.

Clark, John and Bruce all shared a look. They needed to get with the rest of the team and sort things out… and fast.

~JL~JL~JL~

Author's Notes: First off, for those of you reading who aren't usual fans of mine, the reason I posted this chapter so soon is I like to 'prime the pump' as it were when it comes to stories like this. Get a couple chapters up quick, show you how the story will be, then scale back to a weekly to 10 day release cycle. So don't expect new chapters coming out this quick in the future.

Now, about this chapter. First, let me say that I love seeing alternate realities. I love seeing how people take classic characters and change them around. That's why I was such a huge fan of Man of Steel and the Dark Knight trilogy. Yes, I love continuity as much as the next guy, but I get the appeal of rebooting and putting your take on a character.

For each leaguer, I plan to give their backstories a bit of a tweaking. Its fun, will lead to some laughs, but also help fit the story idea of the League members being stuck as teenagers with parents and responsibilities and chores and secrets. The first major one we saw was Clark. I love the idea of making the Kent household a household of superpowered teens. Clark being the big brother to Kara and Conner is such a nifty, fun thing and I have tons of plans for Supergirl and Superboy to being annoying yet loveable little siblings to Big Brother Clark. I won't discuss Diana and Bruce's changes yet, as I will be exploring those in a few chapters from now.

Now, onto this chapter. One of the things I want to do with the characters is give them some upgrades and balance things out a bit. No offense to Shayera, but she kinda got the short end of the stick. She is the berserker… yet she really isn't the strongest, doesn't have a cool weapon, and doesn't even fly that fast. And her wings mean she can never have fun in public, like Diana does in a few episodes. As such, in this reality her wings have been clipped and replaced with an Nth Metal Harness. The Harness, without spoiling things, is going to be REALLY cool, and Shayera is going to come to love having it… and having the freedom to just walk around without being stared at.

In the show, I don't think they ever covered how John got his ring, so I decided in this reality to give him a backstory that was similar enough to Hal's without involving Hal. Hal, Kyle, and Guy WILL appear, but for now I don't want John connected to them. Also, but having it be that John was selected by the ring instead of Hal picking him out, I could include my idea that Lantern Rings have certain programs, depending on who gets them. The show never had the ring talk and in the comics they are very dry. I like the idea that John's ring is like that little paperclip from Microsoft Word, constantly bugging him and being a mother hen. Again, fits the idea of this being the League as teenagers.

I decided to do a bit of mix and matching when it came to Clark's friends. Lois is based on the Animated version with a bit of 'Lois and Clark' Lois in there. Lana is Animated Lana. Chloe is from SMALLVILLE, because I like the character and have plans for her.


	3. Forever Young Part 3

Bruce sat at the very top of the bleachers, his back pressed against the wall and a pair of earbuds doing their best to drown out the noise and idle chatter of hundreds of buzzy teenagers. He didn't recognize the song that was playing but he really didn't care. It could have been one of those boy bands that Barbara tended to listen to when she was training for it mattered. He'd managed to survive her listening to 'Bye Bye Bye' on repeat for 3 straight hours… he could survive anything modern music threw at him. The music was only serving as white noise to block out the annoying chatter of his… classmates.

Bruce's fingers flew over the buttons on his smartphone, quickly typing in commands before opening a second tab and imputing a few more notes. One of the first things he'd done, as soon as he had realized where he was and what had happened to him, was to begin making records of all the differences between the world he knew and the one he found himself in. It would be useful when he managed to get his new Batcomputer set up to already have some sort of base from which League could begin working out exactly how this new reality worked.

Some things appeared to have changed very little, with only minor tweaks. Clark was still a Kryptonian who had been sent to Earth. John had his ring. The Waynes were wealthy and considered one of the most giving families in the United States. The small tweaks to the world, namely that they all lived in Happy Harbor; Gotham and Smallville and Metropolis still existed, but none of the seven of them had ever been there.

Other things had been radically altered. His mother… Bruce swallowed as he thought about her, allowing himself to feel a sliver of emotion as he thought about the hug she'd given him before he'd left… was alive. Only his father had died in that alley, with his mother being paralyzed by Joe Chill's shot. Supergirl was Clark's little sister and they had a little brother, Connor. John had received his ring not from Hal duplicating it but from a dying alien. A check of some news sites proved that the world knew of Themiscyra but in this reality the Amazons were not separated from Man's World and, in fact, Diana's mother Hippolyta was the UN Ambassador of the island nation. Bruce hadn't had a chance to talk to Shayera or J'onn yet but he could tell that something had happened to Hawkgirl to render her wingless. He didn't know about Flash at all but he figured there must have been changes to his history as well.

Bruce paused, clicking on another tab. He didn't like using it, but considering the situation they were in, Bruce had made use of a popular entertainment wiki to help with his notes. This 'Tvtropes' was only confirming what he had feared.

Anarchy had altered their lives to make them fit the tropes of a teenager show/movie.

Each of them was easily fitting into different, stereotypical roles. Clark had been right when he said he was 'Archie' to Lois and Lana's 'Betty and Veronica', only this Archie also had elements of the heroic, polite football star that most teen girls swooned over. John was harder to peg down but from his readings Bruce wondered if Lantern wouldn't find himself in the 'Will Smith' role, considering he'd moved in with his uncle and his children. Shayera, dressed in a hoodie and clearly avoiding everyone she could, was the outcast girl with anger issues… a role she had already perfected back in their reality. Bruce himself was the quiet loner; though he got the feeling there was more to it than that.

As for Diana…

Bruce looked up from his phone, an eyebrow raised as he watched the Junior Varsity Cheerleading Squad go into the next part of their routine. Diana was right in the middle of it, forcing a smile as she shook her pom poms. She clearly hated every second of the routine but was smart enough to know that refusing to take part would only lead to questions none of them wanted to answer. Muscle memory and being a quick learner ensured that she didn't make any flubs and Bruce couldn't help but admire the way she moved. It was silly and stupid and childish but even he could admit that she was rather graceful.

The lights in the auditorium became muted and the other cheerleaders faded away, leaving Diana alone, dancing in the spotlight. The forced smile that had been on her lips disappeared and an absolutely sultry pout replaced it as she looked directly at Bruce. He swallowed, suddenly feeling rather hot, dimly noticing that the rest of the student body was gone, leaving him as the only viewer of Diana's little show. She dropped her pom poms, doing a little spin to let him catch a glimpse of her blue panties, before she began to slowly run her hands along the edge of her zip-up uniform. Diana threw her head back as she began to open it and Bruce watched, captivated, as millions of roses drifted out and swirled around him.

He blinked, suddenly realizing that something was VERY wrong.

"What's wrong Bruce? Never seen a half naked Amazon shoot rose pedals at you before?"

"Anarchy," Bruce growled, turning to find the titan-god sitting next to him, munching on an apple. The titan-god had his bare feet up, ankles crossed as he lounged.

"You know, having sexual fantasies is a perfectly natural thing and should not be anything to be ashamed of. Your body is changing and such feelings-"

"I am in no mood for your games."

The reality warper raised an eyebrow, tossing his apple into a basketball hoop. "What, you think this is me doing all this?" Bruce glared at him and Anarchy rolled his eyes. "Ok, so a lot of it is me but you, Dark Knight, supplied me with the paints to make this little piece of art! Oh, the naughty little thoughts you've had about the princess… you've done well to hide them, even from yourself, but in this reality and in this body you are going to find yourself struggling a bit to avoid them. Me personally, I'd do something about that. And I DON'T mean finding a boy named Terry and making him live in that cave of yours. Seriously, I'm chaos-incarnate and even I find it creepy." Anarchy stood up and stretched. "Well, I'd love to stick around and be glared at but I need to go… very busy with my day job."

"You have a day job?" Bruce asked, trying to milk the titan-god for more info.

"Hey, have to make money to buy these hats somehow!" Anarchy tipped his short brimmed fedora before walking away. Bruce's eyes suddenly burned and, the moment he rubbed them, he found reality reset back to normal.

Or, at least, this new normal he found himself in.

Bruce frowned and opened up the section he'd begun on their trickster adversary. Skimming to the end, he added 'Fan of pop culture'.

"Well, look at you are broody." Bruce quickly minimized the window and turned to glance at the teenager that had sat down beside her. Like him she was dressed all in black, though her clothing was decidedly more ripped and torn than his perfectly pressed slacks and black dress shirt. The many different rings she wore gleamed in the florescent light of the gym. Her hair was cut incredibly short and what length there was to it was rather shaggy and uneven. It looked good on her though, letting her look rough but sexy.

"Selina," Bruce said, trying to hide his shock and surprise at seeing his occasional foe/partner/whatever she was sitting beside him in a 15 year-old's body. Selina idly stretched out, her legs stretched and arms casually flung over her head.

"So you do remember me!" She said with a teasing smile. "And here I'd thought you'd forgotten me!" She playfully slapped his shoulder. "I saw you hanging out with your new friends... the gang and I don't have to worry about you abandoning us, right?"

"Of course not," Bruce said, suddenly worried what sort of 'gang' she was speaking of. Selina had no problem breaking the law in the old timeline and his gut was telling him the same was true in this reality. As for himself, the rules had been changed and he had no idea what his life might have been like up until he'd woken up several hours before. Was it possible that, with his mother alive, his drive for justice had been lessoned while his anger at the world remained? He always knew that he was in danger of falling into the darkness that he used as his weapon. It was always his worst fear that he would become the very thing he fought against, his mind finally breaking under all the pressure and pain.

"Well good!" Selina said with a grin. "I talked to Mr. Donaldson before school started and he hinted that we are going to be doing Phantom this year!"

"...what?"

Selina rolled her eyes. "I know you'd prefer us do something from Shakespeare but that can always wait for the Spring performance. Phantom will give me a chance to showcase my singing voice!" Selina threw out her left arm as she sang the last bit of the sentence.

Bruce, using all the skills he had developed from dating vapid socialites that wanted to talk his ear off about their latest purchase, nodded in all the right places as Selina gushed about the possibility of playing Christine Daaé, his eyes subtly drifting down to his phone. He opened up his calendar app and suppressed a groan as he saw several dates marked with 'Drama Club' for the next two weeks.

'Idiot,' he cursed himself. 'Anarchy is twisting everything around and is slotting us into different roles. Diana is a cheerleader and Clark was already approached about the tryouts for Junior Varsity football... of course he'd have me in drama club!' Bruce felt like smacking his forehead in annoyance and disgust; how could he have believed for even one second that he was part of a criminal gang?

"Harleen!" Selina called out, Bruce's head jerking up as he watched a blonde girl let out a squeal and run up the bleachers to hug Selina. She was followed by a redhead wearing a 'Save the Rainforest' t-shirt and a tall young man with the yin-yang symbol on shirt.

"Oh, hiya kitty!" Harleen Quinzel said with a giggle. "Brucie!"

"Hello... Harleen," Bruce managed to say as the former... future... might never be... Harley Quinn gave him a big hug and a sloppy kiss on the cheek.

"Harleen, stop that," Pamela Isley said, rolling her eyes. "You know it makes Bruce uncomfortable when you do that."

"He didn't mine kissing me last Spring!" Harleen declared.

Harvey Dent chuckled. "That's because you two were playing Romeo and Juliet. Wouldn't be much of a play if you two just waved to each other."

Harleen giggled. "Yeah, that would have been silly!" She plunked herself down on the seat right below Selina, rocking back and forth happily. "Sorry, Brucie."

"It's... ok," Bruce said, willing himself to act normal... even as he felt, for the first time ever, the urge to flip the hell out. The mere thought that he had kissed the same lips as the Joker…

"Settle down, everyone, settle down!" A silvery blonde-haried woman called out from where she stood in the center of the gymnasium.

"Is it just me or does the new school secretary look like the chick who played Luna Lovegood?" Harvey whispered as the secretary introduced Principal Longfellow.

"Thank you, Miss Granger," Longfellow said.

Harvey made a face while Pamela laughed so hard she nearly fell off her chair.

Longfellow fit his name well. He was tall, well over six feet, with short brown hair and a face so lean one might have cut their hands on his cheekbones. He adjusted a pair of wireframe glasses and looked at the student body, a smile gracing his lips. "I know you want to get going, so I will only be a few minutes. Believe or not I was once young as well!" He chuckled, though most of the teens only laughed out of politeness. More of them were just shifting, wanting to get the assembly over with so they could leave. "I just want to say a few words today about the new school year. Every year I look out upon my students, from the ones that are starting here to those that will be leaving soon, and take a moment to consider the raw potential there is in this room. Yes, yes, I know you hear that all the time, people telling you that you can be anything you want, but that's not what I am getting at."

The principal looked down for a moment, the right corner of his mouth quirking up just a touch. Bruce could sense that for Longfellow this wasn't just glad-handing; he truly believed in every word he said. "Right now… you are starting out new again. Yes, you had good times and bad times last year or the year before, and you had great times. That's life. But those times are over and you find yourself now on a new adventure… a new life, as it were. For those that didn't have things go exactly as they wished, I say that this is the time to change, to make things better. For those that did well… I ask you not to rest on what you were but focus on what you could become.

"We all change." His eyes swept across the student body and it felt to all of them as if, for just a moment, he was looking only at them. "When you think about it, we are all different people, all through our lives. And that's ok, that's good, you gotta keep moving." He paused, smiling softly. "Just so long as you remember all the people that you used to be. I don't know about you but I plan to do just that. I…will forget one line of this. Not one day...I swear. I will always remember when the this man," he tapped his chest with his index finger and Bruce was surprised to see that Longfellow actually seemed rather emotional, "was me.

"And with that, have a great school year… and you are dismissed!"

The students all cheered and leapt up, making a beeline for the door. Bruce quickly made promises to meet up with his 'friends' before catching Clark's eyes from across the bleachers and giving him a slight nod.

It was time for them to talk.

~JL~JL~JL~

"I really hope we don't get in trouble for ditching," Wally said as he and Shayera waited for Clark, Bruce, Diana and John to show up. They were back at the picnic table that they'd sat at before school, far enough away from prying eyes but not so far as to make anyone question why they were there if someone stumbled upon them.

"Wally, calm down," Shayera said with a sigh, plucking her earbuds out and turning off her Ipod. Listening to music had been the only way she'd gotten through the teeth-grindingly bad day. She was surprised to find how much her teenage self's taste in music matched her own. True, much of it was from bands she'd never heard of but at least none of it was the pop music crap that The Question listened to all the time. She'd walked in one time to find him boxing to 'Bye Bye Bye'… that song was a curse from Apokolips, she just knew it. "You are wearing a trench in the grass."

Wally looked down and grimaced, sitting down across from his friend. "Sorry… just have some bad memories when it comes to ditching in high school."

"I'd have thought you would ditch all the time," Shayera commented.

"Only did it once or twice… then Uncle Barry found out." Wally grimaced at the memory. "He handled that the same way he handled all the other times I acted out."

Shayera took Wally's hand, upset to see her friend so hurt. It was sometimes easy to forget that, for all his goofiness, Wally hid away a lot of pain and suffering. It was rare for him to open up but Shayera would be ready when he did. "Did… did he beat you?"

"What?" Wally said incredulously. "No!"

"Oh," Shayera said, embarrassed. "I just thought…"

"My uncle did something much, much worse."

"What… what did he do?"

"He sat me down… and made us talk about our feelings."

The Thanagarian woman just stared at the speedster for a moment before leaning over the table and smacking him.

"What did Wally do now?" John asked as he and Clark walked up to them.

"He was being an idiot," Shayera grunted, glaring at the red-head.

"We didn't see you all day, Shayera," Clark said. He rubbed the back of his neck. "How…"

"I want to talk about my wings only once," she grumped, "so let's wait till everyone is here before we begin."

"And we are all here," Diana said as she joined them, Bruce only two steps behind. "Now then-" 

"What… are you wearing?" Shayera asked, trembling slightly. Diana opened her mouth to respond, only to be cut off by Shayera burst into laughter. The Amazon crossed her arms over her chest, glaring at her teammate as Shayera threw back her head and cackled like mad. The others just stood there, fighting their own mirth or backing away in case Shayera and Diana came to blows.

"Are you done?" Diana asked after a minute.

"Yeah… yeah I… nope!" Shayera laid her head against the picnic table and wrapped her arms around her face in an attempt to muffle her laughter.

"So… this is who the world will end," Wally whimpered, watching as a vein just above Diana's right eye pulsed, her jaw clenched so tight he thought she'd shatter her own teeth. "I always hoped I'd die in the middle of a catfight but now…"

The Amazon merely watched for a few more seconds before flashing a devious smirk. "At least I have the body to fill this uniform out."

The male members of the team could _literally _hear a record scratch fill the air. Clark actually looked around to see if Anarchy had done it but apparently even the titan-god wanted no part of the brewing fight. Shayera's laughter stopped dead and she lifted up her head, her hood making her glowering face even darker and more ominous-looking. She stood up, fists balled up tight. "What did you say?" She said coldly.

"Ladies, listen," Clark said. "We all have hormones and teenage bodies… its making us feel and do things we normally wouldn't… so maybe you should-"

"SHUT IT!" Diana and Shayera both roared.

"…okay," Clark said, backing away meekly. Mama Kent hadn't raised a fool.

The two teens stared each other down, eyes narrowed and lips twitching, readying themselves for a fight. Wally licked his lips nervously and John suddenly had the feeling that he was in 'Showdown at the OK Corral'.

"…your ass is fat," Shayera finally said. "Looks like Anarchy was right about that."

"You look like a boy… a malnourished boy," Diana countered.

"That's it!" Shayera screamed. Her backpack split apart and two Nth metal wings burst out, flapping once before she rose in the air. The wings were built to resemble her original organic wings… but with several improves. Shayera held out her hands and two 'feathers' fell free, her hands grasping the hilts at the end before she pointed her new swords right at her opponent. Diana, for her part, fell into a fighting stance, two daggers retrieved from her own backpack, ready to take on her now winged foe.

Whizzzt! Whizzt!

Diana and Shayera leapt back in shock as two batarangs flew at them, missing their noses by centimeters.

"Sit," Bruce said darkly, pointing at the bench. Diana and Shayera both looked like they were ready to argue but seeing the look on Bruce's face they quickly nodded.

"Spoil sport," Shayera muttered.

"Grump," Diana whispered. She glanced at Shayera and the two instantly began to giggle.

"What… what the hell just happened?" Wally asked.

"Teenagers," Bruce said, retrieving his batarangs. "Quick to anger, quick to laughter."

"And now we've joined their ranks," John said, sitting down next to Diana. "We need to watch what we say and how we act… lest we forget that we're actually adults."

"Hey!" Wally complained. "I'll have you know I was never an adult! Child at heart, forever young!"

"We noticed," Diana stated with a smile.

Clark walked up to Bruce, who was retrieving his batarangs. "You backed down," Bruce said calmly.

"Yeah," Clark admitted. "Normally wouldn't have done that…"

"The longer we spend in these bodies, the harder it will be to fight what are becoming our natural urges."

"Like when we were kids thanks to Morgan Le Fay's spell." 

Bruce grimaced slightly at that. "Yes."

"So," Clark said, glancing over at the rest of the team as they chatted, any disagreement between them having faded away for the moment, "new batarangs?"

"I had a free period and made use of the metal shop."

"You made batarangs in Metal Shop?" Clark asked, a single eyebrow raised.

"No," Bruce said, pulling up the sleeves of his dressshirt… to reveal two metal bracers. He snapped the small batarangs into them. He gave Clark one of his 'I am smarter and better than you and we both know it' smiles. "They were just one of the few things I made today."

"…I wrote a poem about a butterfly," Clark said weakly as they walked back over to the group. Waiting for Bruce to sit down, Clark stood at the end of table and looked at the assembled group. They all turned to him and Clark Kent, Kal-El, Superman, the Man of Steel, the Man of Tomorrow… just stared back.

"So… this is really weird," Wally finally said.

"Yes," Clark commented, glad someone had broken the tension. "We are in uncharted territory. There is no Watchtower, no Javelins, no support. I did a check of the Internet an hour ago… and on this world there is no mention of any heroes; not just the ones we know of but not even new ones to replace us. No mention of any supervillains either. It appears, for all intents and purposes, Anarchy's actions have completely, for lack of a better word, rebooted everything." Clark shook his head. "I don't even have my suit."

Wally nodded. "I have speed, sure, but no suit either. You have no idea how much that is going to suck!" When the others looked at him he glowered. "Unlike Clark, I don't project a biofield around my uniform. I run fast in sneakers and they fall apart after the fifth mile."

Diana grimaced. "The only uniform I had was this one… though calling it such seems like an insult. Worse, without my bracelets or lasso… I have not received my divine gifts."

"Didn't you steal all that last time?" John asked.

"Yes, and I was hoping not to do it again. I would prefer to receive them all with honor."

"You may have to," Bruce stated. "We can't be left powerless… not with Anarchy still running around."

"You've seen him?" John asked.

Wally and Shayera nodded. "He popped by while we were coming to school. Made some comment about tormenting cavemen… called us 'dumb dumb'." Shayera's brow furrowed. "Not quite sure-"

"The Flintstones," Clark stated. He paused, lips pursed. "Do you think he was joking… or is he really the Great Gazoo?"

Diana was, for once, thankful that she had spent so much time allowing Wally to teach her about pop culture. Otherwise the conversation would have flown right over her head. "For a 10th Dimensional being reality and fantasy are the same thing. To Anarchy we are just as real as The Flintstones."

"He is a fan of popular culture though," Bruce said, taking out his smartphone and pulling up the notes he'd made on Anarchy. "I looked up some of the comments he made when we first battled him."

"By that you mean when we got our rears handed to us?" Wally asked.

Bruce didn't dignify that comment with an answer, choosing instead to continue with his current train of thought. "The first form he shapeshifted into resembled the character of Chaos from the Disney cartoon Aladdin." Bruce held up the phone, showing a screenshot of a blue winged cat chatting with Princess Jasmine.

Clark frowned. "So either Anarchy was referencing to that…"

"Or he really was Chaos," Diana stated. "What about his second form? It looked like a dragon mixed with a chimera."

"A character from the show 'My Little Pony' known as Discord," Bruce said. "Anarchy, Discord and Chaos all share similar reality-altering powers and do not act as stereotypical villains. As much as I would rather not believe it… it looks likely that Anarchy was telling the truth and he really was all those beings."

John frowned at that. "You want me to believe that the guy that tore apart all of reality… who rewrote history and basically has the entire universe at his beck and call… was part of a show designed to sell little toy horses with brushable hair to girls?"

Shayera shook her head. "Well, the first generation might have been like that but the fourth generation is much better. The stories are more interesting, the characters are awesome and the writers really know how to do fan…service…" Seeing the looks the others were giving her, Shayera looked down and mumbled. "I… I mean I… might have…watched a few… nevermind."

"I like Applejack," Clark said just low enough so only Shayera could hear. The two aliens shared a secret smile with each other.

"The point," Bruce said, pocketing his phone, "is that while this world might not be our own we are here now. We have no way of knowing if we can return to our old reality… and even if we can, none of us want to leave this one unprotected. Anarchy is still a threat and there will be others soon."

"What do you mean?" Wally asked.

"Aresia is here," Diana said with a scowl. "And apparently we are 'friends' in this reality."

Bruce grimaced. "I met Poison Ivy, Catwoman, Harley Quinn and Two-Face. They are normal teens here but the possibility of them becoming our enemies exists."

"As does the possibility of us saving them from that fate," Clark said. "Remember, Anarchy called this a second chance. We can't assume anything here."

Bruce noded. "Which is why we need to be prepared. I am already working on reassembling my suit-"

Clark held up a hand. "We can discuss that in a moment. Right now we have something more important to consider."

"And that is?" Shayera asked.

"That one of us is still missing."

Diana's eyes went wide. "By Hera… J'onn!"

"We completely forgot about him!" Wally exclaimed. "How could we do that?"

"The trauma of what we've been through is an excuse… a thin one but one none the less." Clark considered his next words carefully. "If J'onn were on Earth, he would have contacted us by now. That means…" He looked skyward before looking at John. "I hate to ask, but is there any way you can fly to Mars and retrieve him?"

John grimaced in annoyance, looking down at his ring. "That will be a problem." When the others stared at him John clicked his teeth together. "Because of my age my ring is set in 'parental mode'. That limits what I can do… and leaving Earth is the first limit."

"We have to do something though," Diana said firmly. "We can't just leave J'onn up there all alone."

Bruce shook his head. "I'm not convinced he is alone."

"Uh, yeah, he is," Wally state. "Remember... last green Martian. That's kinda his thing."

"It was his thing," Bruce pointed out. "But this world is completely different. It is entirely possible that the green Martians were never wiped out in this timeline and J'onn is on Mars with his entire race."

Clark nodded in agreement. "Bruce is right. I grew up an only child; now Kara is my younger sister and we have a little brother I've never met. Anarchy altered my history and he could have done the same for Mars."

"But this is a bit different," Shayera argued. "So far all Anarchy has done is alter our histories and de-age us. Kara already existed and maybe this new little brother always did too; you just hadn't met him before we got zapped. Its not like Anarchy's brought people back from the dead-"

"My mother is alive."

The rest of the team stared at Bruce in utter shock.

"My god," John whispered.

"By Hera, Bruce, why didn't you tell us?!"

Bruce remained as stoic as ever. "Because it isn't an issue."

"Isn't... isn't an issue?!" Diana screeched. "Your mother is alive, Bruce! How can that not matter to you?"

Bruce fought to keep his composure. "You have no idea how much it matters to me... but at this moment it is not an issue. What we need to focus on is reforming the league and determining if there is a way to return to our own reality."

"If... if we want to return," Wally said quietly. When the others looked at him he quickly threw up his hands. "Hey, I'm just saying! It's not like we are trapped in another dimension or on another planet. This is Earth and we are who we are... all Anarchy did was... reboot us. We don't want to plow ahead trying to return things back to the way they were if there is a chance this reality might be better."

Bruce, remembering a young, untainted and uncorrupted Harleen, found himself nodding. "Wally brings up a good point. We need to only see if there is a chance... then we can determine if we seize it."

Shayera slapped her fist into her open palm. "Make sure that it is our choice and not Anarchy's."

"Exactly," Clark said. "So it seems like we have several tasks before us. First and foremost, we need to blend in. We can't do anything if they are tossing us into psych wards."

"I'd like to see them try," Diana muttered.

"To do that, we need to learn about ourselves and figure out how radically different this world is from the one we knew."

"Well, I have an Uncle Robert I didn't have before," John said. "And two cousins."

"Virgil and Sharon, right?" Bruce asked. When John nodded, Bruce leaned forward. "Is their last name Hawkins?"

"Yeah, it...oh... oh man."

"What?" Wally asked. "What did I miss?"

"Virgil Hawkins," Shayera said. "Aka Static."

Wally snorted. "Static is your little cousin. Oh come on GL, you have to admit that his funny!"

John groaned. "How did I not see that sooner?!"

Clark shook his head. "We're getting off track. So there are things that are similar and there are things that are radically different." He glanced at Bruce but his brooding friend didn't say a word. "Now, the second thing we need to focus on is getting together our costumes and uniforms so we can actually find out some answers without blowing our cover. I'm going to get a hold of the Command Crystal from my rocket so I can get my costume."

"If you make something keep it small and mobile," Bruce said. "I have an idea for your fortress so it won't do us any good if you've already set it down and have it fully formed." He undid his shirt sleeve and showed them the metal bracer he was wearing. "I've been working on replicating bits of my costume and I've already put in an express order for the rest of the pieces I'll need."

"Thank god for trust funds, huh?" Wally joked.

Bruce merely nodded. "I also put in an order some heat-resistant cloth, Wally. It should already be at your house by the time you get there."

"How do you know where I... never mind, forgot who I was talking to."

John held up his ring. "I'm all set."

Shayera smiled. "My 'mother' mentioned some battle gear when I grabbed my flight harness. I should be able to get something put together."

"That just leaves me," Diana said. She was already mentally preparing herself to talk to her mother and feel her out about her training and try and determine just how much, or how little, Diana in this timeline had been put through. The state of her room and some of the texts she'd found on her overly pink phone did not give her high hopes. Apparently she was more concerned with boys and shopping in this reality than learning how to use a sword. "And J'onn."

"We'll do our best to try and reach J'onn but for the moment there is little we can do about that," Clark said. "I think that we should all meet here before school tomorrow so we can come up with a more concrete plan on how to go about our investigation."

"Sounds like a plan to me," John said, standing up and grabbing his backpack. "And with that, I need to get home... and do homework."

"Ugh," Wally complained. "I thought I was done with homework when I got out of college."

"At least you have experience with it," Diana complained. "We amazons never saw the need for any of this 'work at home'. If you did not learn your lessons for your next class you receiving a punch to the solar plex for your trouble."

"I think I'd rather face down my old drill sergeant than read the first chapter of our American History textbook," Shayera said, pulling her hood up once more and joining Wally as they walked back towards the road.

Clark and Bruce were the last two to leave, the two standing side by side as their team mates ambled off. "Bruce, I know your head must be all over the place, finding out about your mom. You've done a great job keeping a level head... better than the rest of us I think. But you don't have to put on a brave face for us. It is ok to be happy... you know that right? I mean, you've been given something almost no one ever gets. None of us would blame you if you wanted to take some time to enjoy it and you've already disappeared, haven't you?" Clark looked to his right and confirmed that Bruce was long gone. "Even in an alternate reality you are able to sneak away..." he muttered as he grabbed his bag and superspeeded home.

~JL~JL~JL~

Author's Note: Ok, so admission time… yes, there is a tiny, little piece of myself in Anarchy. Hard for there not to be, as I tend to put pieces of myself in all the characters. My writing style is I act out the parts when I can, get them to feel right. For example, when Anarchy first appeared, I actually walked around while 'Little Drops of Poison' played, a fedora on my head and my feet bare, figuring out how he would sway and walk. Later on, in a fight scene I just began writing, I played Wonder Woman and mimed how she would attack her opponent. That is how I write.

So, I can say this to you all… it is so fun to torture Bruce. He just asks for it! Its just so much fun! I get into the role of Anarchy and suddenly its like Christmas and there are these presents and I honestly don't know which one to open when it comes to messing with Bruce.

Principal Longfellow's speech including the 11th Doctor's Farewell speech. I realized when I was writing it that the speech just fit so well with what the Leaguers are going through so I tweaked it to no longer be a goodbye speech by a speech about new starts.

Now, one final note: Yes, the league will be getting different costumes. They will, for the most part, resemble their costumes from the show but there will be new goodies and add-ons to help them out. Since this is a rebooted world they get new suits. So far the first we've seen is Shayera's. I think I mentioned before that really, Shayera gets the low-end of the stick when it comes to gear… just a mace and a mask. Her new wings will be able to create weapons and can shield her from attacks.

If you have suggestions for add ons for the characters, leave a review!


	4. Forever Young Part 4

Diana looked herself over in her bedroom mirror, her hands nervously running along the front of the blazingly white t-shirt she wore, the image of a little cartoony pink-and-black ninja with the words 'I Gots Mad Ninja Skills... And Stuff' right above it on the front. It have one of the few things she'd found in her closet that she could stomach wearing. She could, at the very least, pretend the little ninja on her shirt was a skilled fighter who talked like a baby in order to confuse her opponents. Much of her clothing was either in bright pinks or purples that hurt her eyes just staring at them or were cut in such a way that made them look more like sports bras than shirts. She silently longed for winter to arrive, as she'd found plenty of sweaters and pullovers that she could stomach wearing.

_'The fact that I have, like, two or three shirts that I'd let Shayera catch me is like totally Future Diana's problem,'_ she thought to herself before her eye went wide. _'Oh Hera... tell me I didn't just think that.'_

She glanced at her phone and scowled, silently blaming it for her current dialect issues. She'd done well to hide it from Clark and Bruce and the rest, but from the moment they'd gotten out of school she'd been receiving texts from Aresia and Artemis and Minerva, asking her how it was going and commenting on the silliest little things. It had been a punch in the gut to see her sisters, who she thought of as fierce and proud warriors, giggling about boys and trashing what other people were wearing. Even with Aresia, who had become her enemy, it was painful; Diana knew she was wrong (now especially as she had, in the words of Flash 'finally removed that stick from her rear' and realized that women weren't _**that **_superior to men) but still respected her as a warrior. It was hard to see Aresia reduced to being a catty cheerleader.

Remembering what Bruce had said about blending in, Diana had found herself lying on her bed, which was much too soft, and having to text back to the girls in a convincing manner. It had been hard at first but she'd found that given enough time she could go into almost a trance. The words came easy then and the silly little slang that her 'friends' used easily appeared on the screen of her phone. She'd talked about bands she didn't remember and celebrities she didn't care about with the same enthusiasm as the other girls.

The only time things had gotten awkward was when the girls turned their attention towards Clark. Texts about how hot he looked at lunch and how much they wanted to run their fingers through his hair and find out what his lips tasted like. Diana had gagged at that one; yes, Clark was very attractive but they saw each other as brother and sister and the idea of being with Clark in that way left Diana shuddering. It was bad enough discovering those… websites… dedicated to the league that had stories about her and Superman and their tragically beautiful love affair (or beautifully tragic… she couldn't remember which way it went). She'd tried to move the conversations and texts away from that kind of talk but her 'friends' wouldn't hear of it. Apparently Clark was quite a catch and, in this reality, she'd been trying to seduce him since Freshman year. She'd recoiled at that little fact, finding it to be more of something Circe might do. Worse, she got the sinking feeling that this world's Diana was only interested in having Clark on her arm as a prize to be shown off. That she could be that shallow horrified her.

It had taken her over an hour and 57 texts to finally get the other girls to leave her alone. She'd been polite but firm, claiming she had to go silent due to having supper with her mother. That much was true, so it wasn't exactly a lie.

Diana took a deep breath and looked herself over one last time. _'As much as I would prefer to wear something a bit more tasteful and professional, I don't want to raise any suspicion that I am not myself.' _She struck a quick pose, one hand on her hip as she stuck her butt out a bit_. 'And besides... this top does make me look super yummy-NO!'_ She glared at her reflection, jabbing a finger at it. "No, bad Diana, no talky like thaty... what in Tartarus' name is wrong with me?!" She shut her eyes and took focused. "I am Diana... I am princess of the Amazons. I may look like a teenager but I am not one. I do not use words like 'yummy' or 'howt' and I do not insert 'like' between every other word."

"Diana? Are you up there?"

The young Amazon looked at her door, relief and dread warring in her. Relief that she was going to get to have a simple meal with her mother... dread that she would be having dinner with her mother who might not act anything like her mother at all. "Yes, I'll be down in a minute mother!" Looking at her mirror one last time, she gave her reflection one last hard stare before turning on her toes and hurrying towards the door.

~JL~JL~JL~

Across town another member of the Justice League was sitting down to dinner with his mother and finding it just as difficult as Diana did.

It took all of Bruce's resolve not to fidget. His mother, who he hadn't seen in decades, was sitting right next to him. The old memories that had long faded from his mind had come roaring back when he'd gotten near her. She still wore the perfume she preferred, bought from a little salon she favored, over the more expensive brands her friends were always trying to get her to try on. Her laugh, which started off light and soft but could build to a raging howl if something really tickled her, returned with crystal clarity and had Bruce struggling to control his emotions. She'd patted him on the shoulder as she rolled in for supper and Bruce had found himself not the man he was mentally or the teenager he was physically but the small 8 year old boy who just wanted to hug his mommy and never let go.

Such feelings were made stronger by how close she was. It would have been different if they dined in the main dining room, where he himself had eaten many lonely and quiet dinners when he wasn't at the bat computer. But apparently after the death of his father his mother had found it too painful to have meals there and thus she'd converted one of the rooms next door into a family dining room with a smaller, four person table. That meant that Bruce and her were side by side, enjoying one of Alfred's amazing pasta dishes. There was no distance to act as a buffer between them and Bruce squirmed a bit whenever he caught sight of her from the corner of his eye.

It was like eating with a ghost.

If Martha Wayne feelings any discomfort she doesn't show it. Bruce had long come to see when smiles were fake and laughter was forced and neither of those things were happening when it came to his mother. She would glance at him from time to time and just… smile. It was a secret smile, one he himself had indulged in when he saw Dick or Barbara or Tim do something amazing. Only a parent could recognize it for what it was.

"This is delicious, Alfred."

"Thank you. Though I think I should have left the bread in the oven for a moment more."

Martha shook her head, chuckling. "You are too hard on yourself."

That is something else that was strange and different. Alfred, sitting just across from him, enjoying the dinner he had made. Bruce had hid his surprise well when, after Alfred placed the plates in front of Martha and him, the dignified butler had served himself and sat down at the table with them. He had done it so casually that Bruce knew this wasn't something new; this was routine, a common occurrence. It seemed that his mother found it too lonely to just dine by herself or with Bruce and had convinced Alfred to join them for their meals.

And to Bruce's shame, he realized just how _right_ it was for him to be there, sitting at the table, enjoying the meal he'd worked so hard to make. Watching him Bruce couldn't help but feel like a giant ass. Alfred had been a second father to him and yet he never invited the man to sit down and have dinner with him or to enjoy the comforts of his study, sharing a brandy on a cold night. Oh, he'd cared for Alfred and hoped that the old man knew that… but still, in that moment Bruce felt it hadn't been enough.

He should have done more. Like his mother had apparently done.

"How was your first day back?" Martha asked.

"Normal for a first day, I suppose," Bruce said honestly. He knew he should be acting a bit more sullen or moody, as he could sense that such emotions were the normal for him in this reality as much as they had been in his own, but when he looked at his mother he couldn't bring himself to behave like that. Not to her. "Selina mentioned we might be doing Phantom this year."

"Oh!" Martha said in delight. "That will certainly be a nice change of pace. Yes yes, I know you prefer 'The Bard' but sometimes I like actually understand the words that are coming out of your mouth when you are on stage." She casually flipped her hand back and forth, a move Bruce remembered all too well from his childhood. She'd done the same thing whenever his father said something she found silly.

'_My father,'_ Bruce thought, his mood darkening. He supposed it would have been too much to hope for that in this new reality the Wayne family might have been spared the horror of that night in the alley. But it was not to be. Joe Chill had robbed them of that hope. His father had been shot before his eyes. His mother too, only in this reality instead of being granted a quick death she had been cursed to live out her days in a wheelchair. Bruce's hand balled into a fist. He remembered well how much his mother liked to dance, how she enjoyed moving about with ease and grace. That had been robbed from her, along with her husband, by a punk with a gun. It seemed that even in this new reality of Anarchy's creation criminals-

"Oh, don't brood, sweetheart," Martha said gently, snapping Bruce out of his dark thoughts. "I was only teasing you." It took him a moment to realize that she wasn't referring to the thoughts he was having about his father but rather her presumption that he was upset about the Drama Club not doing a Shakespeare play for their Fall Season.

'_What a strange, simple life I lead if that is my biggest problem,'_ he thought before answering his mother with a slight smile. "It is… ok. Besides, it might work out for the best." Seeing his mother raise her perfectly sculpted eyebrow at that, Bruce decided to kill two birds with one stone. "I'm thinking of taking a supporting role in this production. I'm going to need a bit more free time and I can't have that if I am the lead." The truth was that he wanted to quit all together but knew that such actions would only draw suspicion.

"Oh?" Martha said with a sly smile. "And just what might you need that free time for? It wouldn't be a _**girl**_, would it?"

Bruce had dealt with awkward moments. He'd had to give Dick the dreaded Birds-And-The-Bees talk, he'd once walked in on an epic Shayera-John fight that saw both of them demanding he be the moderator, and he'd seen the Penguin naked. But short of that one horrible night where he'd discovered Harley riding around on the Joker's back with a riding crop in her hand, this moment was the most awkward, painful moment of his existence.

Having to deal with his mother asking about his love life… nothing could prepare him for this.

'_I suppose I could tell her the truth,'_ he thought sardonically. _'Well mom, you needn't worry, as I have actually slept with quite a few women, including 4 of the 5 last Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue Covergirls. At least three of them were supervillains.'_

Bruce found that he didn't need to pretend to be a teenager at the moment; this conversation would have made him squirm even if he were in his normal body.

"Not… entirely," Bruce finally managed to get out.

"Oh?" Martha asked with a teasing smile. "And what is that suppose to mean?"

"Nothing, it's just… a study group."

"You, needing a study group?" Martha asked. "And how many girls are in this study group?"

"…two."

Martha merely glanced at Alfred, both of them wearing little infuriating little smirks.

"But there are three other guys also there, before you get any ideas. I'm not like Clark and his harem."

"Clark?" Martha asked. Bruce mentally cursed. He hadn't meant to let that part slip out. He was getting sloppy in his old age… youth… "So, who is this Clark who has a harem? I don't remember a Clark among your theater buddies."

"He isn't," Bruce answered. He'd found early on his career that a lie worked better when it was wrapped in as much of the truth as possible. "I had lunch with him and another guy, John Stewart, and we just got along well. It's a study group technically but you could say it is just an excuse for us to hang out. John's friends with Wally, Wally is friends with Shayera… and Diana and Clark…"

"Well, I think it's great!" Martha said as Bruce trailed off. "You know I think you need to relax more, sweetheart. The last few years your entire life has been going to school, rehearsing for plays, and spending time on your computer. Hanging out with other kids you wouldn't normally be around is wonderful."

Bruce let out a sigh of relief. Had his mother objected things would have gotten hairy. The 'study group' would serve as the perfect cover, allowing him to meet with the rest of the league and, once he had his new batsuit finished, begin going on patrols without having to worry about his mother trying to figure out how her son spent his afternoons and evenings.

"Besides," Martha continued, "maybe they can get you to like something other than the Bard."

"Now, Martha, don't be too hard on him," Alfred said with a smile, dabbing the corner of his mouth with his napkin. "I think it is wonderful that Bruce has a taste for the classics."

"Of course you would think that," Martha teased, flashing Alfred a smile. "Brits…"

"And what is wrong with being a Brit?" Alfred shot back, though he smiled the entire time he said it. "We are a nationality of culture and dignity that gave the world the Bard and wonderful actors and-"

"Harry Potter?" Martha asked.

"And him too!" Alfred said with a laugh.

Bruce remained silent as his mother and Alfred bantered. The world seemed to slow as he entered what Dick had once lovingly dubbed 'detective mode'. The world faded away and all the little clues that most men would miss suddenly appeared before him in stunning clarity. He thought back to the way the maids had behaved that morning, talking with Alfred not like he was the head of the staff but master of the house. He remembered how his mother had waved to both of them as they left that morning. Bruce stared at Alfred's suit and realized it wasn't the normal set of tails he wore; this one was more casual. Martha was laughing with delight as Alfred said something, her eyes twinkling. Alfred was seated at the table, positioning himself not only across from Bruce but at Martha's side, allowing her to reach over and take his hand in hers…

"You're dating."

Martha and Alfred both froze, their heads almost comically turning as one to stare at Bruce, who looked back at them utterly gobsmacked. A look of shame but also dignity, refusing to deny the charge, crossed both their features.

The three of them just stared at each other in awkward silence. Bruce didn't even flinch when Anarchy popped in behind his mother and Alfred, holding a banjo. His mouth was open to make a joke, only to see the situation he'd ported into. The titan-god silently held up his hands and, with a grimace, backed out of the room.

~JL~JL~JL~

Diana stole a quick glance at her mother and fought the giddy little smile that threatened to blossom on her lips. It had simply been too long since the two of them had actually sat down and enjoyed a meal, just the two of them. Growing up, Queen Hippolyta was always finding something to occupy her time, leaving Diana in the care of her fellow sisters. The queen didn't abandon her daughter at all; she always made time for Diana and the princess had never felt unloved. It was just that the ability to sit down and have a meal seemed to allude the two of them. It only got worse when Diana grew older and she ventured out of the palace. There was always an adventure to be had or an event she had to go to. That made the princess and her mother's schedules very hard to coordinate and thus left them spending time together when they could and not when they might like to. An odd 3 am meeting on a balcony or a quick horse ride to their respective destinations. It worked well for them... until that fateful night when Diana had heard the predictions of the oracle and stolen the bracelets, tiara and lasso and made her way to Man's World. New allies, new enemies, banishment and hurt feelings had separated mother and daughter and it had only been within the last year that the rift had begun to mend.

Tonight though was something different, something special. Just the two of them, enjoying a simple meal of roasted chicken and potatoes, with no distractions and no outside forces seeking to pull them apart. Diana happily listened to her mother, marveling at how she could be so different yet be the same. Hippolyta was not a Queen in this reality but an ambassador, representing Themyscira at the UN in New York. Hippolyta told Diana all about the recent rumblings over the increased isolationism of Kahndaq. The hero trapped in a teen's body merely smiled, biting her tongue as she fought the urge to give her own opinion on the country. There was no real need, anyway, as her mother was a sharp woman and seemed to think along the same lines as Diana.

"Ok," Hippolyta said, laying her fork down, "enough about me. Tell me about your first day back at school."

Diana's smile dropped a bit at that. "It was alright, I suppose. We had to do a routine in front of the whole school and I thought we did pretty good. Artemis thinks Minerva didn't stick her landing right but I thought she did pretty well. Math was boring as was science but I did enjoy English class. We are going to be reading some of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock stories…"

Hippolyta pursed her lips, staring hard at Diana. "Alright, who are you and what did you do with my daughter?"

Diana's eyes went wide with fear. "I... I..." Her mother's stare never wavered and Diana felt her teenage body's become flooded with fear. She'd stared down Lord Hades and Darkseid and Mongul and yet looking upon her mother had her rambling like crazy. "I am Diana but not the Diana you know. I'm really from another reality where I am 30 years old but this titan-god named Anarchy rewrote the universe and placed all of the Justice League, that's the group I'm with, we're heroes and we fight evil and save the planet and yes there are some men on it mother but you'd like them so please don't be too mad I am friends with them especially Bruce who I wish would be more than friends with because seriously, how can he not get the hint that I like him, what do I need to do shove his head between my breaths, but anyway Anarchy rewrote all of reality and forced us into these bodies-"

Diana paused, taking several deep gulps of air, watching as her mother twitched a bit, her lips curling up.

"Are... are you laughing at me?"

Hippolyta couldn't stop herself from bursting into a full body-shaking peel of laughter. "Oh, there is the little girl I raised!" She wiped away a tear while Diana just stared at her, slack-jawed. "I must say, I have never met anyone that could ramble as quickly as you! I think I might have gotten only every 5th word there!"

Diana blushed, suddenly finding her plate much more interesting than her mother.

Reaching over, Hippolyta playfully squeezed her daughter's shoulder. "Now now, I tease because I love. I wouldn't want you any other way, my little sun and stars."

"But... what if I was different?" Diana asked. "What if I... didn't want to be a cheerleader anymore? Or I didn't want to talk about boys and music and tv shows and movies? What if I wanted to focus on more serious things?"

"And what, exactly, would these 'serious things' be?" Hippolyta asked.

Diana took a breath, deciding then and there to take a risk. "My Amazon training."

She could see that she'd clearly surprised her mother with that one. "And here I thought you were going to mention a boy." Diana merely stared at her mother, trying her hardest not to scowl. "Diana... no."

The Amazon teen looked at her mother in utter disbelief. Of all the possible answers she could have gotten to her inquiry, a flat rejection had never crossed her mind as a possibility. Diana's brain tried to wrap itself around that answer, reasoning that maybe she'd misheard or that her mother didn't understand her request. There was simply no way her mother could just flat out deny her what was her heritage.

Her disbelief must have shown on her face because Hippolyta reached over and gently placed her hand over her daughter's. "Diana... to train to be an Amazon warrior is... it is one of the most difficult and brutal things any of us can go through. It must only be attempted by one who is willing to commit fully to the training. It cannot be taken up on a whim. If you fail, if you stop or find it too tough and give in you are never allowed to try once more. That is why it must only be attempted when you are truly ready."

"But I am ready!" Diana exclaimed, frustration tinting her words.

"Diana... you aren't. There is too much going on in your life right now for you to attempt this."

"I'll... I'll quit cheerleading!" Diana practically yelled. "And you can have my phone, I won't talk to Aresia or Artemis or anyone else. Only school and training!"

Hippolyta sadly shook her head. "And tomorrow you will begin missing your phone and complain that swinging a sword is stupid and you will stop. The training cannot be done on a whim."

"This isn't a whim!" Diana roared, slamming her fist against the table. "I am ready! Give me the trials if you don't believe me!"

"Now I know you are being foolish," Hippolyta calmly lifted up her glass of wine and took a sip. "You would not last a minute."

"I would outlast them all," Diana said firmly.

"Arrogance and rashness are not the marks of an Amazon warrior," Hippolyta chided.

"And fear is not one either, yet you clearly embody that!" Diana retorted, standing up. Her blood was boiling and she couldn't tell if it was her teenage heart or her adult mind that was fueling her rage. Perhaps it was both at the same time.

Hippolyta narrowed her eyes, looking at Diana like she was 3 years old again and caught tracking mud through the palace. "I will pretend that this outburst is because you are tired and worn out from your first day at school. Do not, however, expect my leniency to extend to a second outburst."

Diana, with an icy stare that would have made Killer Frost shiver, locked eyes with her mother. "And I will pretend it is your own maternal instructs and not you being a pig-headed, brain addled, thick-skulled fool that causes you to doubt your own daughter and treat her so poorly." She slammed her chair against the table and stormed off. "Goodnight, mother."

Hippolyta took a long suffering sigh when she heard Diana's door slam. "Teenagers..."

~JL~JL~JL~

Night had long fallen and the town of Happy Harbor had drifted to sleep. Few were up at that late of an hour, mostly a few drunks at the local bar, and a handful of emergency personal. None of them were anywhere near Keane Forrest, and thus none of them were witness to the newest arrival.

A large grayish blue ship streaked through the sky, its front glowing red as it burst through Earth's atmosphere. The ship trembled slightly, on a slight wobble, as it fought the gravity pull, before firing off several frontal rocket ports to slow its descent. Still, it had come in too hot and too quick and with a great boom it struck the forest, decimating a good acre of land. Dirt and timber flew into the air as the ship settled into the crater it had made, the metal hull hissing slightly as it cooled in the moist air of the forest.

All was quiet. All was still.

And then a green hand thrust through the metal hull, finger-like talons curled as an unearthly roar pierced the darkness.

Sitting in a tree, Anarchy tilted his head. "Well… that's flippin' ominous."

~JL~JL~JL~

Author's Note: Yes, I had Wonder Woman say 'yummy' in reference to herself. Feminists all over are screaming in outrage. In my defense, this is a parody of such character types and Diana is rightfully horrified. And, of course, it wouldn't be a comedy if I didn't have the League struggling.

I didn't mention it when it first appeared, but the idea that Barry is all 'into his emotions' comes from TheBlackCat's Batman and Sons series of comics. If you haven't read them, the premise is that Batman has Dick, Jason and Tim all as his Robins (with Dick being around 13 or so, Jason around 10 or 11 and Tim around 8). Bruce also has a son with Catwoman named Terry, who is a baby that wears the Batman Beyond suit (of course, for him, it is a onesie). The series deals with the League and their families (IE, Lois and Clark are married and raising little Connor, Kara and Chris Kent while Green Arrow has his own brood of kids). Barry in it is very emotional and trying to make the peace… but also fears Batman. When Hal decides to dump some water on Batman as a prank Barry screams "NO HAL, I WANT TO LIVE!"

I could make a joke about 'the bulter did it' but I think I am better than that.

And finally yes, Anarchy… that was rather ominous.


End file.
